


Seaside Town

by ImaginationisKey996



Category: ASTRO (Band)
Genre: BFF Rocky, M/M, Merman Eunwoo, Writer Bin, nothing crazy, rated T for some swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-11
Updated: 2016-12-12
Packaged: 2018-08-14 10:03:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 21,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8009242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImaginationisKey996/pseuds/ImaginationisKey996
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Moon Bin is given one year to write the first draft of a story and turn it into a publisher before his parents send him to university.  Unfortunately, he has never been less inspired in his entire life.  To make things even more complicated, he finds an injured merman stranded on the beach and he takes it upon himself to care for him until he's able to swim again.  Will this merman be the inspiration he needs to write his book?  Or will he just be another thing that Bin has to worry about?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hello friends, i am here. Instead of writing more chapters of my other story or, like, doing my real life homework or what ever, I decided to start a new story. And this time its Binu, my actual sons! I would ask you to bare with me though as school has just started so I'll probably be pretty slow to update. I will try for at least one update a weekend or something. Anyway! Enough rambling. I hope you enjoy this story and I appreciate you taking your time to read it :) Also let me know if you see any errors or anything and constructive feedback is always welcome!

The sky was grey and gloomy and the fierce, frigid wind billowed inland from the ocean, tossing wave after wave against the sandy beach. They smashed into the surrounding cliffs over and over again, spitting droplets of white sea foam high up the rock face. 

A man, young and frail, stands on the edge of the cliff. The wind is so strong it pushes against him but, despite his weakness, he pushes back. He sways, the force of humanity against the force of nature, ramming head to head again and again. 

But suddenly, the wind gives out causing the boy to stumble forward. He’s too close to the edge of the cliffs and he stumbles forward, trying desperately to regain his balance. He’s not going to make it! He topples forward and—

“Are you done with that?”

Bin stops typing and sighs. He looks up to see who could possibly have thought it okay to disturbing him from his writing. He sighs again.

“Dude, I was totally on a roll this time. What the hell?” He says.

Rocky at least has the audacity to look a little apologetic. He slides into the seat across from Bin, digging into the brownie that lay forgotten on the table between them. 

“Sorry man, but I’m seriously starving here. Dance practise ran right through lunch and I haven’t eaten since breakfast!”

Bin glares at Rocky from over the top of his laptop. Sometimes he seriously wonders why he considers the dancer his best friend. 

“So you came all the way from the studio out to the cafe just to steal my food?”

Rocky’s shit eating grin is answer enough. Bin grabs the brownie from the plate and shoves the whole thing into his mouth in one go. Rocky looks offended.

“Buy your own damn food, asshole.” Bin grunts around the brownie that has now taken permanent residence in his mouth. Rocky pouts at him before grabbing Bin’s laptop and spinning it towards himself. Bin lunges for it but Rocky has it off the table and far out of Bin’s reach long before he can grab it. He sticks his tongue out at Bin’s sad attempt to stop him.

“So, what are you writing about today?” He asks doing a quick scan of the document before him. “The ocean? Again? Dude, you really have to expand your repertoire.”

Bin stands and snatches his laptop back, slamming the lid closed and tucking it into his messenger bag. 

“Also, you call that on a roll? You’ve been down here “writing” for like six hours and you’ve got, what, three paragraphs. Your parents gave you how long to write something before the ship you off to University?”

Bin sits back down and buries his face in his hands. “One year.”

“Damn, only a year to get a book written and accepted by a publisher? That’s rough, buddy.” Rocky says patting Bin on the shoulder. 

That was the agreement Bin had made with his parents. All he had wanted for as long as he could remember was to tell stories. Even as a young kid he had been writing. He would go out onto his back porch and stare out across the fields. He would wander into the forest or through the suburbs and then he would come home and he would write. The stories were always short, mostly plotless and, looking back on them, pretty shitty, but he had been so proud of them at the time. His teachers had always praised him for his imagination and the unique way in which he was able to describe things. His parents had been very proud of him as well, but as he neared high school graduation, he lost his focus. He started wandering with no direction and his writing began to do the same. He stopped finishing his pieces and he began only writing when he needed to. His parents worried that he was uninspired and that if he didn’t have a deadline he would never finish another story so, they gave him a deadline: Finish the first draft of one full story and turn it into a publisher by the end of the year. 

If he was unable to meet the deadline he would go to university to major in literature and become a professor or teacher just like his parents. It wouldn’t be the end of the world if he didn’t make the deadline because he did want to go to university eventually anyway, but Bin was taking this as his parent’s giving him one year where he wouldn’t have to focus on anything but writing. They had agreed to pay for him to live outside of the city and they would give him an allowance of a couple hundred dollars a month to buy everything he would need to live on his own. 

Of course, he wasn’t living totally alone. He was sharing a little house with his best friend in a tiny seaside town six or seven hours away from the city. Rocky had wanted to move here because, oddly enough, they had one of the best dance studios in the country and it was something he hoped to pursue in university. Rocky had worked incredibly hard to finish high school a year early so he could take some time to save up some money so he wouldn’t have to rely solely on scholarships to make it through school. There had been an opening at the studio for a dance instructor, he had auditioned and had, unsurprisingly in Bin’s opinion, been given the job. They found what was now their house and had moved down the next week. 

So that’s how they ended up here. Two teenagers on their own in a tiny seaside town pursuing their passions and making the best of their youth. 

Except there was one problem. Bin hadn’t been able to write anything worth while and it had already been three weeks since they moved out here. He was utterly uninspired, hence why he had been sitting in a coffee shop for six hours and had only been able to write three paragraphs. 

“Look man, maybe you should do what you used to when we lived in the city. Go out, walk somewhere. You can’t keep waiting around for inspiration to find you. Sometimes you have to go find it yourself.”

Ah, yes. That was why he considered Rocky to be his best friend. 

“You know what? I think you may be on to something.” Bin says with a grin. He stands, scooping up his messenger bag as he goes. He tosses a five dollar bill onto the table calling over his shoulder as he leaves the shop. “Treat yourself to something nice. On me!” And the bell over the doorframe tinkles as the door clicks shut.

Bin goes to the sea. It was one of the places he hadn’t ever really been able to visit when he had lived in the city and, therefore, he hadn’t had much opportunity to write about it. Since moving to the little town Bin had been captivated by the ocean but he had yet to find the appropriate words to describe it. The ocean is vast and unknowable, mysterious and unexplored, powerful and essential. The ocean has no master. Not even sailors can tame the waves.

He strolls along the beach, eventually deciding to remove his shoes after stopping to empty them for the thousandth time. The sand is cool between his toes, the September sun no longer powerful enough to warm it up. The wind tugs at his hair, tosses the loose, dry sand upward and stings his cheeks. 

He wanders onward, captivated by the sea. The waves slide up the sand with soft shushing sounds and though the wind feels quite strong to Bin it doesn’t even create white caps in the water. 

On and on he wanders until he come upon some cliffs. Finally he realizes that he is actually quite close to his house. There is a set of old wooden stairs that lead up the side of one of the cliffs. A couple meters farther down the beach there is a gap in the sand dunes that leads to the road for people who can’t use the stairs. His house sits just at the top of the cliff and across the rode but Bin is reluctant to leave the ocean. He remains uninspired but maybe if he just starts to write, something will come of it. 

Bin rolls up the cuffs of his jeans and wanders towards the edge of the ocean. He lets the water lap at his toes and he closes his eyes, losing himself in the feeling of being by the sea. 

Suddenly, he hears something that doesn’t quite fit with the ocean sounds. In fact, it sounds almost human. A groan. 

Bin opens his eyes searching around for something that could have made that sound, unsure if he actually heard something or if he was imagining things.

There it is again! Bin is sure he heard it this time. It sounds like someone in pain! He looks around again, frantic this time and then he spots it. Caught between two rocks at the base of the cliff is a long pale arm. Bin rushes over, deeper into the water. Luckily the arm appears to be attached to the rest of a person. A boy. His torso is caught between two rocks, out of the water and he appears to be unconscious. Bin wades towards the boy. He grabs him underneath his shoulders and hoists him off the rocks and back into the water. He wraps his arms around the boys bare chest and lugs him towards the sandy shore. For how thin the boy is he’s shockingly heavy, but still Bin pulls him onward. It’s only when the water is about ankle deep does Bin understand why the boy feels so heavy. 

Where most people’s legs would begin this boy has scales. They are the darkest violet colour that Bin has ever seen, almost appearing black until the sun hits them. They taper downward, starting at the boys hips forming a v with the lowest point just under his belly button. The scales continue downward forming a long glistening tail ending in a large, fan-like fin, like a siamese fighting fish except that, with the boy now lying on his back, it runs parallel with the sand instead of intersecting. The boy also has some short dorsal like fins on his fore arms that appear to have the same membrane stretched between the spines that his tail has. The scales also seem to continue up the boys spine and creep inward from the back of his neck across his cheek bones. 

Of course, following the scales leads to Bin staring at this strange boys face. It’s a good face, he’ll admit. High cheekbones, strong, slender jaw and pink, pouty lips that quirk up at the corners. He has long, dark eyelashes that fan out against his flawless, pale skin. Strong, dark eyebrows and dark hair that falls across his forehead, still somehow managing to look soft even though it’s soaked with seawater. Bin also notices that the boy seems to have strange slits covered by folds of skin on the sides of his neck.

Anyhow, good face or not, that really isn’t the most important thing right now. Bin currently has a weird, unconscious fish man lying on the beach. He’s bleeding from several deep looking gashes in his tail which also seems to be bent at a kind of odd angle at the end. 

Bin places his fingers on the fish boy’s neck, pleased to find a strong steady pulse beneath his cold and kinda slimy skin. He can see that the boys chest is rising steadily as well. Bin heaves a sigh of relief. The last thing he needs is the odd fish boy dying on him.

Suddenly the fish boy gasps, eyes snapping open and wow, his eyes are the clearest, most beautiful, powder blue that Bin has ever seen.

The fish boy’s eyes flutter like he is desperately trying to keep them open and his arm shoots out to he wraps long, cold fingers around Bin’s wrist. 

“Please, help me.” He gasps out. It’s barely more than a whisper but Bin catches it. Then the fish boy is collapsing against the ground, unconscious once more. 

Bin pulls his cell phone out of his pocket and dials Rocky’s number. He waits for three rings before Rocky picks up.

“Did you find your inspiration?” Rocky asks. 

“Dude, we seriously don’t have time for this. I need you to come down to the beach by our house right now. It’s an emergency!” Bin moves to hang up but not before adding. “Oh, and you might want to bring the wheelbarrow.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone :) sorry the update is a little later than I planned. Hopefully I'll have another chapter up at some point this weekend! Enjoy

“So let me get this straight. You found an injured half fish person on the beach and just decided that you should bring him to our house?” Rocky said, grunting with effort as he pushed the wheelbarrow up the hill. Inside, the fish boy was curled up, the broken part of his tail hanging over the side in order to keep from making his injuries worse. 

“An injured fish boy,” Bin says indignantly. “And he asked for my help.” 

Rocky raised an eyebrow at him, and impressive feat considering the weight he was pushing. 

“You’re sure it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he is unreasonably pretty?”

Bin blushes a little at that. He’s walking at the front of the wheelbarrow keeping from tipping over and sending the unconscious fish boy tumbling to the ground. “Okay, maybe it has a little to do with that,” Bin admits sheepishly. “But aren’t you curious about him? I mean, where did he come from? And why haven’t we seen anything like him before? What exactly is he? Are there more like him?”

“Woah, what if he’s a siren? What if he wakes up and tries to eat your face?” Rocky exclaims. Finally they’ve made it to the front door of their little house. Bin unlocks the door and pushes it open. Rocky places the handles of the wheelbarrow on the ground. They won’t be able to fit it through the door way so they have to carry the fish boy. 

Rocky wraps his arms around the boys chest while Bin delicately holds his tail. “Where should we put him? Rocky asks. 

“The bathtub I think.”

They maneuver the boy through the living room and into the bathroom. They set him down in the bathtub and Bin puts the plug in the drain, turning the taps on to fill it with lukewarm water. As soon as the water hits his tail the fish boy’s eyes snap open and he hisses in pain. Bin immediately turns the tap off. The fish boy blinks a little, taking in his surroundings, looking first at Rocky and then his eyes lock onto Bin and he smiles. 

“Thank you for bringing me here.” He says, eyes curved into happy little crescent moons. “I am not sure yet how I’ll repay you but I’m sure I’ll figure something out.”

“What are you?” Rocky blurts out. Bin glares at him for being so blunt before turning back to the fish boy. He too is curious about what exactly the boy is.

“I’m a merman.” The boy says, lifting his tail as if to prove that he is, in fact, part fish. “My name is Dongmin. What’s yours?”

“Rocky. And this is Bin. He’s the one who found you.”

“I remember.” He attempts to move in the small bathtub as if trying to get closer to Bin. He ends up knocking his tail against the side of the tub and he hisses in pain again. 

“We should get something for your wounds. What will you need?”

“Just some bandages for the cuts, but i think my tail is broken. You wouldn’t happen to have a splint laying around anywhere would you? Or a medium sized stick and something to bind it with?” Dongmin asks.

“I’ll see what I can find.” Rocky says, leaving the bathroom to scrounge around the house for something that will work as a makeshift splint. 

Bin sits cross legged beside the tub, watching as Dongmin tries to turn from his side onto his back so he can lean against the back of the tub away from the faucet. 

“So what happened to you anyway? How’d you end up on the beach here?”

“I was looking for pearls.” Dongmin sighs. “I make jewelry for the other merfolk that live around here and my friend told me that he had heard of an excellent pearl diving spot. I don’t think he knew that the currents were so strong there. I tried my best but I couldn’t break out. Then the current slammed me into the rocks and I guess I blacked out.” He frowns. “It’s a little silly to put you and your friend through all of this just cause of my dumb mistake. I should have been more careful.”

Bin reaches out and pats Dongmin on the shoulder. “It’s okay. We’ll make the best of it. I’ve never seen any merfolk before so maybe I can learn something.” Dongmin smiles at him again and Bin has to look away.

“So, what kind of stuff is true about merfolk? Can you really trade in your tail for legs if you want” Bin asks. Dongmin giggles a little.

“Kind of. Its a little complicated but it can be done. But if merfolk are injured in their human state the have to stay like that until they heal. It’s the same for their fish form. Right now, I would be unable to change and I won’t be able to until I’m completely healed.”

“Okay what about other mythical creatures? Do dragons exist?” Bin asks excitedly. 

“Don’t be silly.” Dongmin says. Bin looks a little dejected. 

“Dragons are extinct.” Bin looks at him in shock just as Rocky re-enters the room arms piled high with all sorts of medical supplies. 

“I had really had to scrounge around for some things but I think this stuff should work.”

Bin and Rocky set about carefully binding the merman’s wounds, using what looks to be the slat from the back of one of their dining room chairs as a splint for his fin, tying it tightly with strips of cloth. Then Bin fills the rest of the bathtub up with water thats about room temperature. Rocky excuses himself to begin making dinner and Bin is about to leave the merman to change out of his wet jeans but he stops to ask something that’s been on his mid since the boy asked for his help.

“Why did you trust me?”

Dongmin looks at him for a moment, cocking his head to the side, those powder blue eyes roaming contemplatively over Bin’s face.

“Well, at first I suppose it was cause I didn’t really have a choice.” Dongmin’s tail moves restlessly in the tub. “When I hit that cliff I really thought I was gonna die. Then I woke up on the beach and you were beside me and it was ask for help from you or die.”

Bin doesn’t think that sounds much like trust but he stays silent, waiting for Dongmin to continue. 

“But then you brought me to your house and you treated me with kindness even though you had no idea what I was or what I was capable of. You saved my life, you tended to my wounds and you gave me a place to stay even if it’s only for a little while. I guess, long story short, you haven’t given me a reason not to trust you.” Dongmin says, shrugging.

Bin looks at the merman sitting in his bathtub and he smiles. “You haven’t given me a reason not to trust you either.” He says, turning to exit the bathroom. He pauses for a moment before turning back and adding,

“For the record, you can stay here for as long as you need to. I don’t mind.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is a little later than I anticipated. Y'know life and everything. I hope you all enjoy reading this! I'm really going to try to update again this weekend!! :P

The next morning Bin wakes up early. He has a meeting with his editor today and though he’s not really sure how he’s going to tell him that he’s only written about two paragraphs and both of them are terrible, he’s not one for being late. So he drags himself out of bed just as the sun is peaking out over the horizon, bathing the sand and water in soft, lavender light. 

He stretches his arms up and out before slipping sweat pants over the boxers that he slept in. He doesn’t bother with a shirt as he slips out of his room. 

He heads toward the bathroom intent on washing his face to wake himself up. Maybe he’ll have a quick shower before he heads out. He opens the door to the washroom and nearly falls on his ass in surprise. He lets out an undignified squeak as he stumbles backward, wrapping his arms around his chest, trying desperately to cover up. 

“Why are you doing that?” Dongmin asks from his place in the tub.

It’s all coming back to Bin now. Injured merman on the beach, bringing him to the house and putting him in the tub. He calms down but he doesn’t unwrap his arms.

“Doing what?” 

“Covering yourself up with your arms. What’s the point?”

“Well, its generally unacceptable to show up shirtless in front of people you just met.”

“I don’t understand. People go to the beach shirtless all the time and there are tons of strangers there?” Dongmin tilts his head to the side inquisitively, brows furrowed, tiny frown on his lips. His eyes are piercing and unwavering like he’d be content to sit there and stare until he got an answer.

“It’s socially acceptable at the beach. Also swimming pools.” Bin answers, finally dropping his hands from around his chest. 

“So there are some places where it’s socially acceptable to not wear a shirt and some places where it isn’t. Interesting.” Dongmin’s lips press into a thin flat line as if he’s trying to store the information away somewhere. 

“But only for boys. Girls aren’t allowed to take off their shirts unless they’re wearing something underneath. Some places they aren’t even allowed to have bare shoulders.”

“Well, that doesn’t seem very fair.” Dongmin says, frowning and pushing the water in the tub around with his hands. 

Bin chuckles and moves towards the sink. He washes his face and brushes his teeth, noting that Dongmin is watching him from the tub. 

“Why are you watching me?” Dongmin blushes a little and looks away. 

“It just kinda fascinating. Nobody in my pack has ever really gotten this close to people and most merfolk who trade in their tails don’t come back to the sea. I’ve never seen a human in their natural habitat. I’ve only heard stories and those are always blown way out of preportion.”

Bin chuckles again. He did’t even think about how weird this might be for the merman. 

“Well, if you have any questions feel free to ask.” He says and Dongmin visibly perks up. 

“Okay, so I assume splashing the water on your face helps wake you up? I know that when we come back in the water from sun bathing on the rocks it always makes me more alert. But then what was that paste that you scrubbed on your teeth? And the brush thingy and the the wire that you put in between your teeth? What was that for? It looked similar to a kind of kelp that we chew but I’m not sure—“

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down!” Bin says, turning to face the merman. Dongmin smiles at him sheepishly, soft rosy blush painting his cheeks. 

“Sorry, I guess I got a little carried away.” 

“It’s okay, it was cute.” Bin says.

“Cute? What does that mean?” Dongmin asks, cocking his head to the side again. The word sounds foreign and kind of odd coming from his lips.

“You don’t know what cute means?” Bin asks, incredulously.

Dongmin shakes his head. “I learned most of your language from what people talk about on the docks or the beach. I mean, I had some help from merfolk who have returned to the sea. I guess it just never came up.”

Bin decides that merfolk must be very smart if they’re able to pick up language just from listening to other people speak it and figuring out the context. Then again, maybe it’s just Dongmin.

“Well, here. I look up the definition.” He grabs his phone from his sweatpants pockets. “Cute: attractive in a pretty or endearing way.” Bin says. He’s blushing a little himself, now. 

Dongmin’s eyebrows are furrowed again, lips pressed together, his thinking face, Bin decides. 

“You’re cute.” Dongmin says. Bins eyebrows shoot up towards his hairline. He’s blushing full force now. This shit eating grin stretches across Dongmin’s face at Bin’s reaction. “So, that was right then? The right context?” 

“Uh, y-yeah. Good job.” Bin’s phone alarm goes off in his hand. “Shit! I have to go. Myungjun’s gonna kill me!”

“You shouldn’t be spending time with someone who’s going to kill you.” Dongmin says as his eyes track Bin’s movements as he scrambles around the bathroom desperately trying to flatten his hair into something acceptable. 

“It’s just a figure of speech, Dongmin.” He says a he sprints out of the bathroom. He gets dressed quickly and sprays himself with some perfume. He knows it’s not the best practice but there is currently a merman residing in his bathtub which is kind of impending his ability to shower. 

He grabs his bag and his keys and pokes his head into the bathroom one last time before he leaves. 

“I should’t be gone for too long. Maybe an couple hours? Will you be okay till then?”

“What’s an hour?” Dongmin asks sheepishly. Bin goes to one of the drawers in the bathroom cabinet. He digs around until he finds one of those old school waterproof watches that he had kept from middle school. Luckily it still has some battery life. He hands the watch to Dongmin. 

“I’ll be back before this little screen says 10:00, okay?”

“Okay.” Dongmin smiles at him and Bin realizes that they are sitting awfully close. Well, Dongmin is sitting, Bin is doing some weird impression of the Hunchback of Notre Dame. 

He straightens up and goes to the front door. As he’s slipping on his shoes he hears Dongmin call out to him from the bathroom. He pokes his head back into the bathroom. 

“Yeah?”

Dongmin’s got his hands on the side of the tub, arms straight, pushing himself upward so his whole upper body is above the side of the tub. He’s craning his neck like he had been trying to see Bin at the front door from his place in the bathtub. When he sees Bin stick his head in to the bathroom he sinks back down until its just his chin resting on his hands on the side of the tub. 

“I really hope Myungjun doesn’t kill you.” He says, and he’s so serious about it that Bin can’t help but laugh. 

“I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about it. I’ll be back before ten o’clock, I promise.” And with that he’s out the door and on his way to meet his editor.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hahaha I hate myself. I totally got caught up in the other pics i was working on and abandoned my astro babies. i finished all the rest of my fics though and i won't be starting any others until this one is finished cause apparently i can't be writing two things at once. this has my full attention now so i will hopefully be updating a little more frequently :P anyway pls enjoy!

Bin’s meeting with Myungjun doesn’t exactly go well. He’s supposed to have a first draft of his book fully written by the end of the year and he barely has a couple of paragraphs that’ll make it to the final cut. Myungjun looks over the feeble amount of writing with a raised eyebrow and slowly turns his gaze to Bin. He lets out a sigh before opening his mouth to speak. 

“I know, I know.” Bin interrupts. “It’s not much but, things have just been really… hectic these past couple of days.” 

“Hectic how? You don’t work. You don’t go to school. You literally don’t do anything but write and you can’t even do that!” Myungjun says with force. Then he takes a deep breath to calm himself before continuing. “What on earth is keeping you so busy, Bin?”

Bin starts to look a little sheepish. “Okay, so I know this is gonna sound totally ridiculous but you have to believe me.” Myungjun looks at him skeptically but gestures for him to continue. 

“Yesterday, I was walking along the beach, y’know for inspiration, and, well…”

“Well what? Just spit it out Bin!”

“I found a mermaid on the beach and I brought him into my house and he’s currently living in our bath tub.” It all spills out of Bin in a rush and he huffs out a sigh when he’s done. It’s a relief to actually tell someone about all this.

“You found a mermaid.”

“Well, merman technically.”

“Okay, merman. And he’s in your tub?”

“Yeah.”

“Why didn’t you just put him back in the ocean?”

“His tails broken.”

“Oh, I see.” 

A few moments of silence pass and Myungjun leans back in his chair. 

“Did you buy any fish?”

“Fish? why would I buy fish.”

“Well, that’s what they eat.”

“Oh, makes sense.” Bin then squints a Myungjun. “Wait, how do you know that?”

“My mom was a mermaid. She gave up her tail to marry my dad.”

“Oh my god, really! Then you can totally help me! So, they eat fish? What else do I need to know to take care of one?” Bin scoots forward to the edge of his seat, pencil in hand notebook spread out in front of him, ready to take down all the notes he’ll need to care for Dongmin while he’s incapacitated.

“Woah, woah, woah, slow down there. I don’t know that much. My mom doesn’t really talk about mermaid stuff with humans.” Bin all but deflates, no further in being able to care for a mermaid than he was when he arrived in Myungjun’s office. 

“But,” If Bin was a dog his ears would have perked up and his tail would have begun to wag. 

“Maybe I can get my mom to come to your house and give you the essentials. Maybe she can talk with your merboy and help him out a little.”

Bin launches himself across the desk, wrapping his arms tightly around his editor and friend. 

“Thank you soooooooooooo much!” He says, shaking Myungjun back and forth, squeezing him tightly. “Seriously, you’re a life saver!” 

“Dude… seriously let go… I can’t… breathe…” Bin pulls away with a slight blush high on his cheeks accompanied by a radiant smile.

“…Sorry…” He says sheepishly.

 

Myungjun calls his mom and tells her about there situation. She says that she’s free and she’ll drive down to Bin’s house. They’ve got about half an hour before she arrives, so Myungjun and Bin make there way back to Bin’s house, writing, if you can even call it that, forgotten on Myungjun’s desk.

“Is he pretty?” Is the first thing Myungjun asks as they make their way down cobbled streets. 

“Dude…” Bin responds, looking incredulously at Myungjun. The editor doesn’t miss the way the tips of Bin’s ears turn red, though. 

“So, he is then.” 

“I didn’t say that!” Bin exclaims, shoving Myungjun’s shoulder and looking scandalized.

“Yeah, you didn’t have to. You’re ears are red, by the way.” Myungjun says casually continuing to walk as Bin grabs his ears and check their colour in his reflection in the window of a car. 

“Well, that doesn’t mean anything!” He shouts at Myungjun’s back jogging a little to catch up to him.

“He’s not that pretty.” Bin says with a pout.

“Alrighty. Whatever you say, fish lover.” Bin punches Mungjun in the shoulder, quite hard and Muyngjun stumbles sideways. 

“Okay, okay. Truce?” He holds out his hand for Bin to shake. Bin takes it with a skeptical glare. 

They walk in blessed silence for a few meters before Myungjun says, “Besides, I already know that he’s pretty.”

“What? How? You've never even seen him...” Bin asks.

“It is a proven fact that merfolk are prettier than humans. According to merfolk that is.” Myungjun says matter-of-factly. 

“Also, you totally just admitted that he’s pretty.” Myungjun says, the corners of his lips lifting into a smirk. Bin blushes even harder muttering something along the lines of ,” Just because you tricked me. He’s not even that pretty.” There’s no confidence behind it though because even Bin knows that he’s lying.

The rest of the walk is filled with Myungjun’s sing song taunts of “Bin has got a fish crush, Bin has got a fish crush!” until Bin punches him in the shoulder again to shut him up.

 

 

They arrive at Bin’s house just before Myungjun’s mother pulls up in her car. She gets out and Bin kinda starts to believe what Myungjun said about merfolk being prettier than humans. She looks no older than thirty, though she has to be around fifty, considering Myungjun’s age, with long dark hair that falls in silky curls past her waist. Her skin is pale,like Dongmin’s, and her eyes, though round and soft like his, are a pale lavender.

He can see the resemblance between her and her son, though Myungjun’s skin is darker and his eyes are a little sharper at the corners and a deep warm brown in colour. 

“You must be Myungjun’s mom.” Bin says, holding his hand out for her to shake. When she does, he notices her hands are soft and delicate and her fingers are long and thin, like Dongmin’s. He wonders if its a mermaid thing or not. 

“And you must be Bin. Myungjun has told me you’re writing a book!” She says, her voice reminds him of Dongmin’s as well, gentle and soothing, though much higher in pitch than the other mermaid’s soft, low rumble. 

“Actually, I said “writing” so…” Myungjun interrupts, finger quotes and all. “Anyway, shouldn’t we be going inside to take a look at the injured mermaid in your tub?” He says, gesturing for Bin to lead the way.

Bin leads Mungjun and his mother into his and Rocky’s house. It isn’t even ten in the morning so Rocky is still at dance practise but there is a soft haunting melody swirling through the house. Myungjun’s mother visibly perks up at the melody and begins to softly hum along. Soon her voice is weaving in and out of the first one and she’s pushing past Myungjun and Bin and following the music to the bathroom. Bin and Myungjun follow close behind, curiosity piqued.

When she opens the door to the bathroom, Dongmin stops singing with a squeak and jumps in surprise, splashing some water over the edge of the tub. 

“You’re from the North Bay pack!” Myungjun’s mother exclaims. Dongmin just stares up at her, powder blue eyes wide with fear.

“It’s okay, Dongmin.” Bin says, kneeling by the edge of the tub. “This is Myungjun’s mother. She used to be a mermaid as well.” Dongmin looks at Bin, fear fading from his eyes leaving only curiosity, and then he looks back up at Myungjun’s mom, tilting his head to the side.

“I was from the North Bay pack as well. I recognized our pack song.” Myungjun’s mother says, a little sheepish after scaring the young merman. 

“Actually, did you say your name was Dongmin?” She asks.

Dongmin nods his head slowly, never breaking eye contact. 

“Then we have met before.”

“We have?” Dongmin asks, speaking for the first time since they entered the house. He tilts his head to the other side, an action that Bin is quickly finding endearing. 

“Yes! Your mother and I were best friends. She brought you to the surface just after you were born so that I could meet you. I suppose you could think of me as something like a god mother!” She says, kneeling beside Bin in front of the tub. Myungjun is just standing in the door way staring at the merman in the tub. 

Myungjun’s mother begins to check Dongmin over for injuries, making sure their all bound correctly.

“You did a good job patching him up, Bin.” She praises and Bin smiles. She turns back to Dongmin. “It must be awful being cramped up like this.” Dongmin gives a small pained smile. 

“Well, it’s a little cramped, I suppose. But Binnie has been so wonderful to me so far. He saved my life!” Dongmin says, and he begins to recount what happened to Myungjun’s mom. Bin blushes and looks away. He just so happens to catch Myungmun’s eye who raises his eyebrows and mouths “Binnie?” at him. Bin just shrugs. He won’t lie, the little nickname coming from Dongmin made his heart stutter in his chest.

Dongmin finishes telling Myungjun’s mom the story of how he got here and she turns, addressing Bin. 

“Okay, so the break isn’t too terrible, at least he didn’t shatter any of the vertebra or anything. Since merfolk heal considerably faster than humans he should be all healed up in about a week. You shouldn’t go back out into open water for around a month though. Going to the pool first might be a good plan just to make sure there’s no muscular damage or anything, though I don’t know how you’d get in after hours.” She stands up dusting off he knees. “I brought some merfolk care essentials with me. They should help you until Dongmin is able to look after himself, Bin.” 

She goes to fetch them from her car and Dongmin, Bin and Myungjun stand around in silence.

“Please don’t kill Bin, Myungjun.” Dongmin says suddenly, breaking the silence. Myungjun looks alarmed.

“I’m not going to?” He asks looking at Bin in confusion as if asking for an explanation. Bin just shrugs and sighs.

“It’s just a figure of speech, Dongmin. It doesn’t mean he’s literally going to kill me. It just means he’ll be annoyed.” Realization dawns on Dongmin’s face and he lets out a soft little “Ah.” in acknowledgement. It’s quite possibly the cutest thing Bin has ever seen and he kind of wants to die. Myungjun looks pretty much the same, just staring at Dongmin, blush flooding across his cheeks. Myungjun’s mom re-enters the bathroom, boxes piled up in her arms. The first is filled with dried fish snacks and seaweed for Dongmin to snack on if no one is there the bring him food. The second is a box of merfolk hygiene equipment. There is a comb made out of bone and a big piece of pumice rock to help slough the dead scales off of his tail. There also peers to be a lump of coarse looking kelp. 

“It helps keep our teeth clean.” Myungjun’s mom says when she sees them looking at it weirdly. 

The third box is filled with beads, string, little metal clasps, scissors, tweezers, pliers, wire cutters, you name it. Anything you would need to make jewelry. Dongmin looks the most excited upon opening this box. His eyes light up and he searches Myungjun’s mother’s face, seemingly asking, “For me?” When she nods, he pushes himself over the edge of the bath to fling his arms around her shoulders.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” He says, and Myungjun’s mom wraps her arms around the boys thin, wet torso. 

“You’re welcome, star shine.” She says patting his back. Bin thinks she must feel kind of sorry for the injured mermaid. She would no better than the rest of them what it’s like to be thrust into a world that one doesn’t really understand. 

She pulls away from the boy and stands again. 

“You let me know if you need anything else, alright?” She says clearly addressing both Bin and Dongmin. 

“We will.” Bin says. “Thank you so much for all your help.” 

“It’s not a problem. I just hope he’s able to get back to his pack soon. I can’t imagine how worried they must be. I’ll try to get in touch with his mother to let her know that he’s alright, but I can’t guarantee anything.”

“That’s alright. You’ve already done more than we could ask for.”

“Anything to help another merfolk.”

Bin escorts Myungjun and his mother to the door. Then suddenly a thought strikes him.

“Why did you trade in your tail?” He asks. Myungjun’s mother turns to him and smiles. It’s bright and happy and yet could not possibly rival Dongmin’s. 

“I fell in love.” She says, simple and easy.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy this new chapter which features garbage mermaid mythology that I just made up and very little of anything that actually advances the plot. But hey! an update is an update :P

The next couple of days fly by for Bin. He wakes up every morning, grabs his journal and something to write with. Then he goes into the bathroom and sits on the floor, back pressed against the cold porcelain of the tub. Dongmin smiles at him and Bin smiles back. Then he begins to write. 

The two of them swap stories, Bin explaining things about the human world and Dongmin telling tales of his life under the sea. Sometimes they just sit in silence, Bin engulfed in his writing and Dongmin weaving beads and rocks and thread together to make beautiful pieces of jewelry. 

After about a week, Bin has written more usable material than ever before. And if the love interest in his story shares Dongmin’s smile, nobody needs to know. 

Its Friday and Dongmin’s tail is almost completely healed when Bin finally asks the question that has been nagging at the back of his mind since he met the little merman. 

“So where do mermaids come from? Do you guys believe in evolution or is there some kind of mermaid religion?”

“Not really any kind of religion. But there are stories. No one knows for sure how true they are but we know that there is some magic involved. A mermaid can trade in their tail for legs through meditation and we know it doesn’t happen through sheer power of will.” Dongmin replies, twisting in the tub so he can rest his chin on his arms right by Bin’s shoulder.

“Will you tell me the story?” Bin asks, staring determinedly down at the journal in his hands as he feels the merman’s cold, wet elbow brush against the bare skin of his arm. Dongmin hums like he’s considering it. 

“It’s kind of a long story. Are you sure your in for the ride?” Bin can feel Dongmin’s eyes on him but he knows that if he turns his head to make eye contact the mermaids face will be too close and he won’t be able to look away.

“I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want to know.” He responds.

Dongmin huffs out a laugh. “Okay then.” He says as he leans back in the tub. Bin sighs out a breath he didn't know he’d been holding. 

“It’s common knowledge for mermaids that every creature is made out of two or more of the base elements, earth, air, fire and water. The first ones, the humans, are made of earth and fire. More specifically, clay and the fire that Prometheus stole from the Gods. And the first mermaid was born a human.

He was a young boy who lived at the edge of a town, in a house perched high on a cliff. One day the boy wandered a little too close to the edge and he fell in. His mother saw him fall but she was unable to reach him before he tumbled into the ocean. Instead she prayed to Poseidon, the God of the Sea, to save her son. By the time Poseidon heard her cry it was too late and the fire that burned in the boy’s body, what made him alive, had been extinguished.”

“Jesus, this is depressing…” Bin says. He had turned around to watch as Dongmin told his story, turning one of his beads over and over between his fingers.

“Shush.” He says, glaring a little. “And don’t worry, it gets better.” He assures.

“Anyway, Poseidon was way more soft hearted than the greek myths make him out to be and his heart wept for the mother who had first lost her husband and had now lost her son. So he scooped up the boy’s body and took him to Olympus where he had asked all the Gods to gather so he could ask for their help. 

His brother, Hades was the only one who may have been able to reignite the fire in the little boy’s heart, but even he, in all his power over the dead, could do nothing to revive the child. The Gods were helpless to revive the boy whose fire had been stolen by the sea. 

But, suddenly, Poseidon had an idea. If the sea had stolen this boys life than maybe it could be persuaded to give it back. While poseidon was the God of the sea, the sea itself was its own entity. Fickle and stronger than anything else on earth, its relentless push and pull was nearly impossible to control. But Poseidon was not one to give up easily. 

So he returned to the sea and instead of trying to reignite the fire he replaced it with the heart of the ocean, pushing and pulling infinitely inside of the boy. It worked and the boy woke up. He returned to his mother who wept with joy but he was never quite the same. 

Years passed and the boy became a young adult but he never stopped feeling the pull of the ocean. Somedays he would sit a top the cliff and stare out at the ocean for hours on end. Poseidon kept careful track of the boy and one day he rose from the ocean and offered the boy a chance to return to the sea with him. The boy looked back toward his cliff side house where his mother lay, health rapidly deteriorating. He thought about his responsibility to her and refused Poseidon’s offer.

A few years later the boy’s mother passed away. The boy stood on the side of the cliff and called out for Poseidon to come to him. In many ways, the boy was now Poseidon’s son, so he listened and came to the little house by the sea. The boy asked of it was too late to accept Poseidon’s original offer of returning to the sea. Now that his earthly duties had been fulfilled, there was nothing holding him to the land. Poseidon took the boys hand and lead him to the sea. He recognized that the boys gangly human leg, while perfect for treading across the land, where not ideal for living in the water so instead he gave him a fin and a set of gills. And so the first mermaid spent the rest of his days exploring the ocean floor and making friends with all the creature that he met there.”

The two of them sit in silence for a moment. Bin lets the story wash over him and soak in. Bin can feel all the questions bubbling up inside of him. 

“So how did there get to be more mermaids then? Did he do that for every child that fell into the ocean?” He finally asks.  
“No. It was difficult, even for a God to replace a creatures essential elements. The second mermaid was a sailor. The first merman could see that the fire inside of the sailor didn’t burn as brightly as it did in other humans. The sailor was drawn to the sea before he could even speak. 

The first mermaid came to him when he was a young adult, sitting staring out at the ocean just like the first mermaid had. He promised the boy that if he followed his love for the ocean he would be protected. And the first merman kept his promise. Until one day he couldn’t. The boy became a sailor and survived countless attacks and storms that would have killed even the best sailors. But one day he was shot and he toppled over the edge of the ship. The first mermaid saw his fire begin to flicker so he grabbed the sailor’s body and brought it to Poseidon. He begged for the God to change the sailor like he had changed the first mermaid. Poseidon asked him why. Why he wanted someone else like him. Was he not happy being unique? Where the fish not friends enough for him? 

The boy responded, “The fish know frightfully little about the world and the sharks and whales have no curiosity for anything beyond their next meal. I would like a friend who knows of the world I come from. With whom I can share my worries and fears. Someone who will understand me. For I am made from earth and water, unlike the humans who still burn with Prometheus’s bright fire. 

You call me unique, but I only feel alone, even when the sea is so full of life.”

Poseidon considers this. Then he asks the first merman why this particular sailor deserves to be given a second chance as opposed to all the other people that have died at sea. The first merman merely says, “I have made a promise and I intend to keep it.” Poseidon can’t argue with that so he revives the sailor and the second mermaid is born.”

“Are all your myths so god damn sad?” Bin asks.

“Yeah pretty much. Anyway that’s how the first pack of mermaids was created. The two of them would wait until they found someone whose fire was weaker than a regular human and then they would wait until the person inevitably made there way to the sea. Then they would ask if the person wanted to join them in the sea and if they did, the person would be brought to Poseidon to be judged. If he deemed them worthy they would become mermaids and if not, they would die.”

“Whoa…” Bin says, wide eyed. “That seems a little harsh…” 

“Yeah. That’s why we don’t really practise it anymore. Most mermaids that are alive now are somehow blood related to the first pack instead of being children of Poseidon.”

“You’re so fascinating.” Bin says, in a little bit of awe. He’s openly staring at Dongmin who blushes and looks down at the bead he is rolling between his fingers.

“Oh, come on. It’s not that interesting. As far as we know, they’re only stories.” 

Bin definitely wasn’t referring to the story, though that was very interesting. But he couldn’t very well tell Dongmin that. His tail was almost healed after all. Once they found a way for him to build back some of his strength they would bring him back to the ocean and he would be gone. Bin felt a tiny pebble settle itself in his stomach. While it would be nice to have two washrooms again, he’s not entirely sure if that outweighs the fact that Dongmin won’t be there anymore. Bin doesn’t think he’s every really felt like this. He’s had crushes before, for sure, but nothing ever quite like this. But he pushes it down and away. Its impossible. Fire and water just don’t mix. So he slaps on a smile and watches as Dongmin picks up the bracelet he had been working on and slides the bead he had been fiddling with onto the string. It’s pretty, the beads are small and the form a gradient of deep dark purples and translucent powder blues with tiny silver beads intermingled. In the centre a small silver star dangles from the chain. 

Dongmin gestures at Bin for his hand and without even thinking Bin offers it to him. The merman’s thin fingers are cold as he takes Bin’s wrist. He deftly ties the ends of the bracelet together and adjusts the beads so they’re evenly spread. Every time he moves the beads his fingers brush against Bin’s wrist and it sends tiny electric shocks sparking out across his skin. Dongmin eventually stops fussing with the bracelet and lays his hand over Bin’s, brushing his thumb across the skin. 

“Thank you.” Dongmin says, and it’s barely more than a whisper. Bin looks up at him with a questioning look on his face. Dongmin looks the most sombre Bin has ever seen him them in their week together. 

“What for.” Bin whispers back, not wanting to break whatever hush has fallen over the bathroom, the only other sound being the water lapping against the side of the tub as Dongmin shifts his tail. 

“For listening. For taking care of me. For letting me take over your bathroom.” Dongmin says, lips pulling up into a smile, revealing his perfect teeth. Bin smiles back with a chuckle. He can’t help but think, with Dongmin’s hand on his and his journal almost half full of usable material, that it’s all worth it.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *whispers* is should be asleep... wtf am i doing... Anyway, here you go. I was inspired. Pls enjoy <3

A few days later and Bin’s routine remains the same. Wake up, grab journal, go to washroom, sit and write and enjoy the company. Lately, Dongmin seems to be getting more and more restless. He fidgets more, his tail fidgeting in the water nearly causing it to slosh over the sides. Today, it actually does and the cold bath water cascades down Bin’s back causing him to leap away from the bathtub in shock. Dongmin shoots him a sheepish smile and apologizes quickly. Bin forgives him and goes to changes his shirt. 

He strolls past the kitchen on his way and sees Rocky leaning up against the counter, shovelling dry cereal into his mouth. 

“Hey.” He says around a mouthful of cornflakes. “Finally get sick of your fish boyfriend?”

Bin glares at him. “No, and he’s not my boyfriend. He accidentally splashed water over the edge of the tub and soaked my shirt.” Rocky’s eyes light up as he spies a perfect opportunity to tease Bin relentlessly. Luckily, Bin sees the light in his eyes and knows whats coming.

“I swear to god if you make a joke about him getting me wet I’ll throw you into the sea.” He says glaring as hard as he possibly can. 

Rocky just smirks and Bin knows that, even with his impressive foresight for Rocky’s terrible jokes, he has lost this battle. 

“You said it, not me.” He says with a self satisfied smile, setting the cereal box down on the counter and pulling out his phone. He begins tapping away on it and Bin knows the conversation is over so he sulks his way toward his room, upset at having been bested by his roommate. 

“Oh and by the way,” Rocky calls to him as he slips his wet shirt over his head, reaching for a new, clean sweater. “You’re going on a date tomorrow.”

Bin freezes, then turns slowly and sticks his head around the door frame to look at Rocky with a dangerous, close lipped smile that doesn’t reach his eyes. 

“What?” He says, and Rocky continues to tap away on his phone, not even bothering to look up. 

“Yeah. This guy that I dance with. His name is Jinwoo but most people just call him Jin Jin. He’s awesome. I really think you’re gonna like him.” Rocky says with a soft smile.

“Why the hell would you do that? I don’t want to go on a date with someone I don’t even know!” He shouts. He’s aware that he’s over reacting but he can’t help it. The idea of dating a stranger just doesn’t appeal to him. 

“Why not? It’s not like your seeing anyone.” Rocky fires back with a raised eyebrow, pocketing his phone. 

“Besides when was the last time you even left the house?”

Bin starts to respond but Rocky interrupts him.

“When was the last time you left the house for anything other than work or groceries?”

Foiled again, Bin splutters, trying desperately to come up with an answer that isn’t sad as hell. He can’t, so he frowns and pouts, muttering something about how it hasn’t really been that long. 

“Bin, I haven’t see you in more than a week. And we live together.” 

Okay, so maybe Rocky had a point. He really did need to get out more. And plus, Rocky liked this guy and he trusted his best friends judgement. 

“Fine.” He says, quietly, resigned to his fate. Rocky offers him a bright smile and a pat on the shoulder. 

“Tomorrow at seven o’clock. That one restaurant downtown? The seafood place. I sent him your picture so he knows what you look like already.” he says making his way toward his room, no doubt to get caught up on what ever drama he had been watching recently. Bin makes his way back into the bathroom.

Dongmin is dozing in the tub but he wakes up on hearing the door open. He lifts a hand to rub sleepily at his eyes and he blinks up at Bin. He smiles and shifts himself into more of a sitting position.

“That took you a while. Is everything okay?” He asks, splashing his fin in the water a little. 

“Yeah, everything fine, I guess.” Bin responds, taking his seat with his back pressed against the side of the tub. 

“You guess?” Dongmin asks with a questioning tilt of his head.

“Yeah. I don’t know… Rocky just set me up on a date with one of his friends from the dance studio.” 

“But you don’t know him?”

“No.”

“…Interesting.” 

“What’s interesting?”

“Well, I always thought that dates happened between two people who like each other.”

Bin chuckles a little at this.

“Not first dates. Or blind dates. Those are usually when you get to know the other person. Then if you like them you go on more dates to learn more about them.”

Dongmin looks like he’s thinking bout the concept of dates very hard. It looks more like he’s trying to solve a very complicated series of puzzles instead of the social workings of human dating. Though, the more Bin thinks about it the more he sees that maybe they’re kind of the same thing. 

“Our first date wasn’t very good then, was it?” Dongmin says with a frown on his face and a little crease between his eyebrows. Bin nearly chokes to death on his own saliva.

Once he’s regain some semblance of composure he turns to Dongmin.

“We haven’t been on any dates, Dongmin.” He says carefully, and he can feel that his cheeks are flushed bright red.

“But you said that it’s about getting to know each other. Didn’t we get to know each other the first day I stayed here?”

“Well, I guess but—“

“And I like you. So by your definition doesn’t that mean that all the time we’ve been spending together counts as dates?”

Bin pauses. Dongmin likes him? Dongmin _likes_ him? Dongmin likes _him!_ Despite the internal freak out he is having he tries his best to keep a neutral face. He doesn’t know how well it actually works seeing as Dongmin is staring at him quizzically with those intelligent eyes, waiting for his answer. Bin takes a second to think rationally about the whole situation. Dongmin probably doesn’t mean it like that. He’s probably just doesn’t know that there is a difference between platonic like and romantic like since its the same word. Still, Bin can feel his hopeful heart fluttering against his rib cage, frantic to be heard. He quashes is down, shoving it backward and locking the cage. It’s never going to happen. Dongmin has to return to the sea and Bin can’t follow him.

“It’s a different kind of like, Dongmin.” Bin says. “We’re friends. It’s different.” Bin thinks that Dongmin actually looks kind of hurt by his words. But then again, he’s probably just being hopeful, projecting his own feelings onto the merman. He gets up from the floor and turns to leave the bathroom. 

“I have to go get some laundry done. I’ll be back in a while.” All he gets from Dongmin is a quiet, “Okay.” The merman doesn’t make eye contact though, opting instead to focus on his fingers splayed out against the scales on his tail. Bin leaves quietly and closes the door behind himself with a soft click. 

When Bin does come back Dongmin is asleep in the tub. Long lashes splayed out across pale cheeks. He truly is beautiful. Bin can’t help but crouch down next to the tub and stare at him and the gentle rise and fall of his narrow chest. He reaches out his hand and brushes his fingers through the mermaids bangs, smoothing them out across his forehead. Dongmin unconsciously leans into the touch, nuzzling his forehead into Bin’s palm. Bin runs his fingers down the side of Dongmin’s face and over the shell of his ear, just taking in the way that Dongmin is, right here and right now. It takes a shift of Donmin’s tale causing the tub water to slosh against the side to break him out of his reverie. He pulls his hand back like he’s been burned. He stands quickly and exits the bathroom, rubbing the hand he had used to touch Dongmin. Sternly he reminds himself that it’s never gonna happen and he makes his way to his bedroom to pick an outfit for his date. The pebble in his stomach is slowly growing into more of a boulder.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all like the new chapter! Also only a few more to go and then it's finished! I will definitely be done before christmas cause I want to do some (hopefully) shorter holiday stories. If y'all have any christmassy or winter holiday prompts you'd like me to write you could post them in the comments or message me on tumblr I'd really appreciate it <3
> 
> anyways enjoy!!

The next evening Bin finds himself walking along the road by the sea on his way to the best restaurant in town. His converse slap against the concrete with the ebb and flow of the ocean and he finds his mind drifting. Instead of being filled with nervous energy about his date he feels a strange sort of calm near the sea. He thinks of salt water and deep purple skies. He thinks about little black songbirds with powder blue eyes. He thinks of cold, wet skin, white teeth and soft, petal pink lips. He thinks of fish and music and wet clothes and warm smiles and stars. He thinks of well bound journals and good pens and comfort and before he knows it he’s standing in front of the sea food restaurant where he’s supposed to be meeting his date. 

Bin sighs before pushing the door open and stepping in to the warmth. He hovers awkwardly near the door, scanning the restaurant for his date. Rocky had said that he was short and broad with ash brown hair.

Suddenly, standing in front of him is a stocky man with a nervous smile on his face. Bin could admit that the man was handsome. Also that he looked a little bit like a koala but in a way that was endearing. 

“Are you Bin? Rocky’s friend?” the man asked. His voice was low and he spoke slowly and steadily. Bin nodded and held out his hand for the man to shake.

“Yeah. You must be Jinwoo.” The man in front of him took the offered hand and shook it, firm but gentle. 

“That’s me. But you can just call me Jin Jin.” Bin smiles and nods and then Jin Jin leads him toward a table for two close to the back of the restaurant.

The date starts well. Jin Jin is a good conversationalist and he makes sure to ask Bin lots of questions. They talk about their jobs and school. Bin discovers that Jin Jin is a life guard and that he’s using the money to get him through school for dance. They talk about heir hometowns and their parents. They talk about Rocky and the different tv shows they watch. 

Everything starts to go down hill when the waitress brings the two their drinks. Bin barely remembers what he ordered, something with alcohol in it. But that isn’t what gets him. The glass that the drink is served in is the most beautiful, translucent, powder blue that Bin has only seen one other place. Then slowly he begins to notice other things around him. The table cloth is a beautiful, rich violet and his wine glass has a tiny little star charm wrapped around the stem. It’s funny, there’s even a mermaid painted on the bottom of the plate that they were given for their bread. 

“Bin?” He hears and he realizes that he’s been zoned out for a while and the waitress is placing their food in front of them. 

“Sorry.”

“Am I boring you?” Jin Jin asks, tiny sarcastic smile on his face. 

“No, no. you’re not boring me!” Bin exclaims. He doesn’t want to insult Jin Jin. “I’ve just got a lot of my plate right now.” He says with a sigh, fiddling with his fork. 

“What’s got you so distracted?” Jin Jin asks. Bin tells him about his book and how he’s got one year to complete at least the first draft or his parents will make him of to school. 

“I was having such a hard time writing but then I met this guy and it all just seems to spill out of me. Every minute I’m not writing feels like a moment waisted. He’s going to leave soon and I’m afraid that if I’m not done before he does, I’ll never finish the book.” 

Jin Jin looks at him with a sort of melancholic smile. 

“This isn’t going to work out, is it?” He says gesturing between himself and Bin.

“What do you mean?” Bin says, looking at Jin Jin with his brows furrowed in confusion. Sure he had zoned out a couple of times but he had thought the were getting along fine.

“I mean as a date. I like you. As a friend. I think we would get along well but your heart clearly belongs to someone else. I can’t compete with your muse.” Jin Jin says, but his smile no longer carries an sadness. He’s just being open and honest.

“I do think it would be nice for Rocky if we were friends at least.”

Bin offers a small smile. He feels a little bad fro waisting Jin Jin’s time but he can’t help but agree to some extent. Jin Jin is nice and handsome but Bin just isn’t attracted to him. Every time he had smiled Bin wasn’t able to help think about the way Dongmin’s smile made him feel. 

“I’d like that, too.” Bin says and he offers Jin Jin a real smile. Jin Jin smiles back and lifts his glass in a toast.

“To friendship?” And Bin lifts his glass as well, clinking them together.

“To friendship.”

 

The conversation flows more easily once the pressure of romantic entanglement has been lifted. Bin discovers that Jin Jin is a massive dork who loves dancing and sleeping. At some point Jin Jin ordered a bottle of red wine and as the night goes on and the amount of wine is there systems increases the stupider the things they laugh about get. One glass becomes two and then three and by the time they are leaving the restaurant they are warm and giggly. Jin Jin still insists on paying like the gentleman he is. Bin finally lets him, saying that he’ll get it the next time.

Jin Jin’s house is not far past the one Bin shares with Rocky so the two new friends decide to walk home together.

They walking in fairly comfortable silence, just letting the night wash over them. Finally Jin Jin asks,

“So, what’s he like? This boy of yours.” Bin can feel the smile stretching across his face as he thinks of Dongmin. With the alcohol in his system he forgets that he isn’t allowed to feel like this. For the first time he doesn’t stop himself from being in love.

“He’s wonderful. He’s smart and curious. He’s creative and artistic and his voice is so beautiful, it’s enchanting. He’s hard working and strong and so, so, so pretty. God, you should see him. It’s seriously unfair.” Bin realizes that he’s gushing and he’ll probably be embarrassed about it in the morning but right now he can’t bring himself to care.

“But you think he’s gonna leave?” Jin Jin asks, smiling at Bin fondly as he gushes about his little merman.

“I don’t think he’s gonna leave. I know he’s gonna leave! He has to or he’s gonna die from being all cramped in our bathtub!” Bin exclaims in exasperation. Jin Jin looks at him like he has just descended from the moon. 

“What the—? Why is he in your bathtub? Did you kidnap someone?” He asks as they near Bin’s house.

“No, no. It’ll be better if you just see for yourself.” He says, struggling to get the front door open. 

He finally does though, and he stumbles inside, Jin Jin following cautiously behind, unsure if he’s about to enter some serial killers murder cave. 

“Dongmin! I brought over a guest that would like to meet you!” Bin calls as he struggles to pull off his shoes. There’s no response.

“Dongmin?” Bin calls again. The house remains eerily silent. 

He starts to get worried now and he jogs toward the bathroom, knocking gently on the door before pushing it open. The bathtub is still filled with water but there’s no merman in sight. Bin feels a cold prickle of fear spark down his spine and the giddy warmth of the alcohol in his system disappears into something much more sinister. The floor of the bathroom is soaked with water. 

“Dongmin!” He shouts again, stumbling back out into the hall, nearly colliding with a bewildered looking Jin Jin. There are more puddles of water there, leading toward the kitchen.

“Bin! What’s happening?” Jin Jin asks, following Bin into the kitchen.

“Dongmin’s missing.”

“Missing? Are you sure he didn’t just go out?”

“Pretty sure.” 

“How sure?”

“Well considering he doesn’t have any damn legs, I’m pretty fucking sure!” Bin snaps at Jin Jin after finding the kitchen completely empty.

Out of the corner of his eye, Bin catches a glimpse of something moving outside on the balcony. It is separated from the living room by two large sliding glass doors. There are streaks of water on the hardwood flooring of the living room, reflecting the moonlight that shines through the glass.

Bin makes his way cautiously toward the balcony, not entirely knowing what he’s going to find. He slides the glass doors open and peeks out.

His legs nearly give out in relief at what he sees. Dongmin is just sitting there on the floor of the balcony, basking in the light of the moon. His skin and scales glow silvery white, brightness increasing and decreasing with every inhale and exhale. His tail is tucked in by his side, fin moving lazily back and forth in the cold night air and his eyes are closed as he breathes in and out, slow and steady.

“You know, strangely this makes a lot more sense than you keeping a double amputee in a full bathtub in your bathroom.” Jin Jin says from behind Bin. Bin jumps, having basically forgotten Jin Jin was there in his panic. 

Dongmin, having heard the presence of new people, lets out one last heavy huff of air before slowly opening his eyes. He blinks slowly a few time, as if he’s waking up from a long sleep. He turns his head drowsily toward Bin and offers him a sleepy smile.

“Holy shit. You weren’t kidding, huh?” Bin hears Jin Jin breathe out. He doesn’t have time to acknowledge that, yes that is what most people say or think when they first see Dongmin. Also that, no, he wasn’t lying when he said it was unfair how pretty the merman is. 

“You’re back. How did your date go?” Dongmin asks around a yawn. He lifts a hand to rub at his eyes. Bin pulls the screen door open all of the way and steps onto the balcony, walking over to kneel down beside Dongmin. 

“It went fine, I guess. We decided that it would be better if we were just friends. That’s him by the door.” Bin reaches out to touch Dongmin’s arm. His skin is icy cold, colder than usual and Bin notices some marks on his forearms. He lifts Dongmin’s hand gently and turns it over. There are smallish purple bruises down the sides of his forearms and big red marks on his hips.

Dongmin smiles at Jin Jin while Bin inspects his torso for more marks.

“That’s good. Friends are good.” Dongmin replies, eyes slipping closed.

“What the hell did you do to yourself? How did you even get out here?” 

“I pulled myself.” 

“You dragged yourself out of the tub and all the way out here? Why?” Bin looks at the merman incredulously. Dongmin’s head lolls forward to rest against Bin’s shoulder. He nuzzles his head further in and buries his frigid nose into Bin’s neck, sighing in relief at the warmth. Bin doesn’t dare move an inch as he feels the cold tip of the merman’s nose press against his jugular, nor does he move at the soft puff of warm air that washes over his neck. 

“I wanted to see the moon.” Dongmin murmurs and Bin can feel his cold, wind chapped lips brush against his skin. He kind of never wants to move. He’s already got a hold of Dongming’s wrist. It would be so simple to pull him in just a little closer and hold him tightly against his chest. They could stay there cuddled up on the balcony, watching the moon until it set and night became dawn and then they could watch the sunrise. It seemed like a pretty beautiful eternity to Bin. 

The illusion is broken when Dongmin’s body shudders against his and the little merman lets out a whine.

“S’cold.” He whimpers, body naturally leaning more toward the heat source that just happened to be Bin. 

“Okay, lets get you inside.” Bin says pulling away from the merman. Dongmin whines again at the loss of heat.

Bin gestures for Jin Jin, who had been watching from the glass doors, to lift the merman’s tail while he carries his upper body. Bin wraps his arms under Dongmin’s armpits and lifts while Jin Jin struggles with the boys unruly tail. Eventually they get him inside and back into the bathtub and Bin starts to run the warm water while draining out the old, cold water slowly so the tub never gets empty but slowly the water starts to warm. 

“I’ll go clean up some of that water in the living room.” Jin Jin says. Bin thanks him and turns back to tend to Dongmin.

“Why were you out there anyway?” Bin asks, watching curiously as the merman’s tail swishes beneath the warming water.

“It’s a full moon. There would be a festival tonight.” Dongmin answers, eyes closed, sinking into the warmth of the new water “I wondered if I could see my pack.”

“And did you?” Bin asks, hand in the water testing the temperature.

“No.”

“So why did you stay out there in the cold? If you got yourself out of the tub you could probably have gotten yourself back in.” Bin asks. Dongmin smiles at him.

“Well because of the effect the moon has on the water, it also has an effect on merfolk. We are inexplicably drawn to it, especially on the night of the full moon. Normally for the festival, big groups of merfolk from different packs gather together in safe coves during the day and prepare to watch the moon. We all gather because the pull of the moon can sometimes be strong enough that merfolk have been known to come out of the water in places that are dangerous and they really have no idea what their doing. 

Before the full moon festivals began, you would hear stories of mermaids coming out of the water at docks or populated beaches and many of them were captured or killed. So they started creating gatherings in safe places so that merfolk could bask in the moonlight without fear of being seen by humans.” Dongmin says. 

“I guess I forget how much we rely on the other merfolk for warmth during the festivals and the cold made me sleepy.” He says, apologetically. 

“It’s okay. I was just worried, that’s all.” Bin says with a smile. “How does your tail feel?”

“Good. Fully healed but it’s weak. I wish there was somewhere I could go to build my strength without having to worry about the currents dragging me away.” Dongmin sighs in frustration.

Suddenly, Bin gets an idea.

“Hold on. Jin Jin, can you come here?” he calls towards the kitchen.

There’s a bit of rustling from the kitchen before Jin Jin is pushing the bathroom door open. 

“Yeah?”

“You work at the pool, right?” Bin asks

“Yeah, I’m a life guard. Why do you ask?”

“Is there anyway you think you could get us access to the pool after hours?” Bin asks with a hopeful smile.

Jin Jin considers it for a moment, looking from Bin’s hopeful face to Dongmin’s anxious one. He smiles.

“I’ll see what I can do.” 

Bin puches the air in excitement and the anxiety on Dongmin’s face melts into a beautiful smile. Now their one step closer to Dongmin being fully healed. One step closer to Dongmin returning home. One step closer to Dongmin leaving.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> probably about three chapter left, though i'm not sure. these things always tend to get away from me :P Enjoy!!

Jin Jin leaves that night after exchanging phone numbers with Bin and promising that he’ll do his best to get them into the pool after hours but he’s not sure how easy its gonna be. So when Bin gets a phone call the next evening he’s more than a little surprised.

“Hey Bin, are you free tonight?” Jin Jin’s voice echoes through the receiver. Bin, who had been leaning against the edge of the bathtub re-reading some of his writing, answers

“I’m free every night. Why?”

“Well I managed to pull some strings with my boss and I can get you guys into the pool after hours tonight!”

“Wait really?” Bin exclaims, causing Dongmin, who had been focused on threading some string through a blue bead, to jump in surprise and drop his bracelet in progress into the tub. Bin covers the mouth piece of his phone and turns to Dongmin and whispers,

“We’re getting into the pool tonight.” And Dongmin’s eyes widen and he gestures for Bin to hold the phone up to his ear.

“Jin Jin?” He asks, wet hands grasping Bins wrist to keep him steady. 

“Thank you so much! Honestly, is there anyway that I can repay you at all?” He says excitedly into the receiver.

“Oh no, that’s okay. It was actually really easy. I just told my boss that I would stay late and clean up and he left me with the keys.” 

“Well, thank you anyways. It really means a lot to me.” Dongmin says before letting Bin take the phone back.

Jin Jin tells them that the pool closes at six o'clock so they should be there around seven. Bin says goodbye and hangs up the phone, turning to Dongmin to tell him the plan when he is enveloped by long wet arms. Dongmin has pulled himself halfway out of the tub to wrap his arms around Bin’s neck pressing them chest to chest. Water slops over the side of the tub and splashes across Bin’s pants. He doesn’t really mind though and he just brings his own hands up to rest on Dongmin’s wet back. His skin is soft and cool and Bin can feel his spine and his ribs shifting underneath. The longer his hand stays in one spot the warmer the skin there gets. He slides his hand upward to rest between the merman sharp shoulder blades, holding him close.

Dongmin turns his head in toward Bin’s neck and he buries his face in it taking a deep breath in. 

“Thank you.” Dongmin breathes out and Bin can feel the smile against his skin. He suppresses a shudder as Dongmin’s warm breath washes over his neck. The front of his shirt and pants are soaked through with water from the tub but if that is the price he has to pay to hold Dongmin like this, then he gladly would, over and over again.

Eventually, Dongmin pulls away, breaking the moment. His luminous smile only serving as a reminder to Bin that their days together are coming to a close. 

The rest of the evening is spent with Bin sitting with his back against the edge of the bathtub pretending to write but instead just doodling in the margins and Dongmin humming happily to himself as he strings bead after bead together. 

Bin looks at the purple and blue beads that adorn his own wrist, fiddling with the tiny silver star that hangs down. An idea begins to form in the back of his mind. 

“Dongmin, would you mind if I borrowed you beads tonight, when we get back from the pool? I want to try and make something.” 

“Of course.” Dongmin says with a smile.

 

Seven o’clock is upon them before they know it and Bin is struggling to fit his wheelbarrow into the trunk of his car. The car had been a graduation gift from his parents. It’s good in an emergency, they had said, but Bin rarely used it. Everything in town was close enough to walk to, but he supposes that his parents had been right.

The next challenge of course is getting Dongmin outside and into the car by himself. Rocky is still at the studio so he can’t help and Myungjun is having dinner with his parents. Bin goes into the bathroom.

“Okay. Let’s get you into the car.” Dongmin nods and holds his arms upward like a child asking to be carried. Bin leans down, looping an arm under the merman’s armpits and lifts, using he other to scoop Dongmin’s violet tail into the air. Bin grunts at the unbalanced weight. Dongmin’s torso isn’t that heavy but his tail is entirely made of thick, dense muscle and it probably weighs as much as Bin himself. 

Dongmin’s arms come to cling around his neck, pulling upward in an attempt to alleviate some of the strain on Bin’s arms. Bin takes a step backward and he stumbles a little, jostling the merman in his arms. Dongmin doesn’t seem to mind, giggle and clinging tighter to Bin’s neck.

With some fancy manoeuvring and a great deal of stumbling, they finally make it outside to the car. Bin deposits Dongmin into the passengers seat making sure his fin is tucked in so it won’t get caught in the door. He closes the passenger door and makes his way around the car to get into the drivers seat. Dongmin is looking around the car curiously, fingers fidgeting as if he wants to reach out and press all the buttons and knobs to catalogue what they do. 

Bin smiles and starts the car, Dongmin jumps in surprise as the machine beneath him roars to life. 

“First time in a car?” Bin asks with a cheeky smile. Dongmin doesn’t even notice. He’s too caught up in trying to understand this new machine that he just answers absently,

“Yeah. I’ve seen them drive by the sea but I’ve never been inside.”

“Well, I’ll explain how everything works on the way, alright? Jin Jin is waiting for us.”

Dongmin looks straight at Bin and smiles his bright, beautiful smile. 

“I’d like that.”

 

 

The drive isn’t really long enough to fully explain how a car works but Bin does his best to explain the basics with Dongmin interrupting him every now and then to ask him questions. Its fun and all too quickly they are pulling up outside of the pool. 

Bin looks around to make sure that there’s nobody around. He goes to the trunk and wrestles the wheel barrow out and onto the ground. 

“Bin! You made it.” He hears a familiar voice call from the back entrance of the pool. 

“Hey, Jin Jin. Can you help me get Dongmin into the wheel barrow so we can get him into the pool?”

“Sure.” Jin Jin agrees.

Bin opens the passenger door and Dongmin automatically holds out his arms. Bin grabs him under both armpits and pulls him out while Jin Jin swoops in to lift his tail. They place him gently in the wheel barrow and Jin Jin holds the door for them as Bin wheels them inside.

I’m gonna leave you two down here alone. I have to clean the gym upstairs so you probably have about two hours before I need to lock up.”

“Thank you, Jin Jin.” Bin says and Jin Jin waves goodbye making his way up the stairs, leaving the two of them alone. 

“So, how do you want to do this? Should I wheel you to the shallow end or—“ 

“Just tip the wheelbarrow over.”

“Right into the water?”

“Yes.” Dongmin says, eyes never leaving the gentle ripple of the pool water.

Bin shrugs and tips the wheelbarrow over causing Dongmin to slip out into the water with a splash. 

The merman is still for a moment, sinking deeper and deeper into the water. Bin leans over the edge, worried that Dongmin won’t be able to swim, that his tail will hurt too much. Can merfolk drown? The longer Dongmin remains still, the more Bin can feel the panic bubbling in his chest. 

Just as he’s really considering diving in to pull the merman out, Dongmin starts to move. It starts with a twitch of his fin and then his eyes are open and he’s zooming around the edges of the pool, tail propelling him steadily through the water, palm running along the tiles. Then he zig zags down the centre of the pool as if he’s testing his steering. He finishes with a somersault before propelling himself back towards the surface. 

His head pops out of the water and he searches around to find Bin. He’s got the brightest, most beautiful smile plastered on his face and his eyes are sparkling. If Bin thought he was beautiful before, he can’t even begin to describe how he looks now with his hair pushed back from his forehead, rivulets of water rolling down his nose and cheeks. 

And then he’s gone again, diving back wards under the water, twisting and turning like a ribbon in the wind. Bin is crouching at the edge of the pool, zoning out on the shapes of Dongmin moving under the water. He doesn’t notice that Dongmin is swimming up towards him so when he surfaces, face suddenly less than an inch from his own he falls backwards onto the pool deck. 

Dongmin giggles and leans he head on his arms at the edge of the pool.

“Come join me. The water is lovely.” 

“I didn’t bring my swim shorts.” Bin says in a futile attempt to deter the merman. But Dongmin just pouts at him, looking at him through thick wet lashes. His lips look so soft, slicked with pool water and the droplets on his eyelashes sparkle in the bright fluorescent lights.

“Binnie…” Dongmin whines, and when he’s looking at Bin like that he’s really in no position to refuse. 

“…Fine.” He concedes and Dongmin’s pout transforms into that beautiful smile. Bin smiles back going to the edge of the pool to place his phone, shirt and shoes on a bench to keep them dry. He decides to keep his jeans on, even though he hates the smell of wet denim. 

He walks back to the edge of the pool and looks around but Dongmin is nowhere to be seen. 

“Dongmin?” He calls creeping closer to the edge of the pool.

Suddenly, theres a massive splash as something jumps out of the water and latches around Bin’s wrist, yanking him forward so that he tumbles into the water. He lets out a shriek as he plummets into the water. Bubbles rush up around his face, bumping against his skin and slowly he opens his eyes. The chlorine stings his eyes but its worth it to see Dongmin’s self satisfied grin underneath him, long fingers still wrapped around Bin’s wrist. Slowly they sink down deeper into the pool and the pressure begins to hurt Bin’s ears. He tugs against Dongmin’s grasp and the merman seems to understand. He doesn’t let go, just turns them and propels himself towards the surface, dragging Bin with him. 

He gasps for air when they surface and he feels Dongmin pushing him backwards until his back bumps against the edge of the pool. His fingers latch onto the lip of the pool so he can catch his breath. But then he turns his head towards Dongmin and loses it all over again. 

The merman is watching him with careful concern, eyes darting all over his body check ing and checking again that he hasn’t actually hurt Bin. He’s got Bin bracketed up against the pool edge, one arm on either side, tails shifting gently, just enough to keep him a float. Sometimes Bin feels the fin brush against his feet and it tickles a little. They’re so close, Bin could count Dongmin’s individual lashes. He’s afraid that if he draws in too big a breath their chests will brush against one another. If he just leaned forward a little bit, he could brush his lips against Dongmin’s. He wonders what the merman would do if Bin kissed him. Would he be grossed out? Do merfolk even kiss?

“Are you alright?” Dongmin asks, breaking Bin out of his wondering. 

“Yeah. I’m okay.” He says and Dongmin pushes himself away from the edge of the pool, giving Bin room to breathe. Room that he didn’t necessarily want.

“Good. Now come swim with me.” and he disappears under the water again.

 

The rest of the time at the pool is spent with Dongmin swimming around the pool, showing Bin all the different tricks he can do, mimicking the way dolphins jump out of the water, full of elegance and grace. Bin mostly clinging to the side and observing the merman frolic. 

Eventually Jin Jin comes back downstairs to fetch them so that he can lock up. He offers bin one of the pool towels to dry off as best he can. 

Bin pulls on his shirt and shoes and notices that he’s got a text from Myunjun. He swipes open the message to read it.

From: Myungjun

Mom got in contact with your fish crush’s pack. apparently they will be back in the bay in three days. do you think he’ll be able to go back by then?

Bin looks over at Dongmin whose doing one final lap of the pool, tail pumping powerfully back and forth. 

To: Myungjun

yeah. he’ll be ready.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> one more chapter left my friends! I'll try my best to get it out on monday but we will see what happens. I hope you enjoy this <3

The next few days pass after than Bin can comprehend. Every evening he brings Dongmin to the swimming pool and every day the merman gets stronger. Bin always makes sure to wear swimming shorts and everyday Dongmin invites him into the water. It mostly consists of Dongmin swimming circles around him while he treads water in the deepen of the pool but occasionally the merman will brush his fingers across Bin’s back or down his arm just to let him know that he’s still there under the water.

At night Bin sits in his room with the box of beads and string that he borrowed from Dongmin and tries his best to weave the beads onto the string. 

He finishes his project on the morning of the day that Dongmin will return to his pack. He wakes up early, around six, which is odd for him, being such a heavy sleeper. He threads the beads together and then takes them all off again, starting from scratch. He needs this to be absolutely perfect. 

He finally finishes around ten in the morning. He changes into jeans and a t-shirt and stuffs his little project into his pocket before exiting his room and heading to the bathroom. 

Dongmin is lying on his back with his eyes closed but Bin is sure he isn’t sleeping. 

“So today’s the big day, huh?” Bin says, trying his best to sound chipper even though he can feel that boulder of dread in his stomach freezing over, weighing heavily on his insides.

Dongmin opens his eyes slowly and stares up at the ceiling. He makes a small noise of acknowledgement. Bin sits down, crosslegged, in front of the bath tub. 

“Are you excited?” He asks, trying his best to get an actual response from the merman. 

“Of course.” Dongmin says turning to smile at Bin. There’s something off about it though. The corners of his smile don’t quite push his eyes up into little crescents like usual. 

“Is there anything you want to do before you go back? Myungjun’s mom said that your pack will be in the bay at sunset so we’ve got all day.”

“Can we just sit? Like normal. You write and I’ll bead and we can just talk?” Dongmin says, looking down at his hands spread under the water.

“Of course. Anything you want.” Bin responds. He gets up to get his journal from his bedroom. It’s hefty in his hands now, and a little water damaged. Think on some the pages bleeds a little but everything is still legible. He thinks about what the journal looked like a month ago, before he had found Dongmin. Every line clean and precise but free of any actual content. Before he met Dongmin, he sort of felt like an unblemished journal. Now he looked at the journal in his hands, the paper bloated and warped and he can’t help but feel a small sense of pride. Regardless of what’s written on the pages this journal has lived out a story. Bin realizes that he too has lived out a story and soon this whole chapter will be coming to an end.

He sighs and tucks the journal under his arm, returning to the bathroom. He can at least make this final chapter something memorable for the other character in his story. 

Bin sits down with his back against the tub and Dongmin lays the same way he has everyday for the past month. Bin tries to write and Dongmin tries to bead and they trie to make conversation. There is something else in the air, though. Some sort of stifling quite sits in the air like they are mourning a parting that has yet to happen. 

Finally Bin gets fed up with the uncomfortable weight of everything.

“That’s it. I think we could both use some fresh air and a change of scenery.” Dongmin jumps, startled by Bin’s sudden outburst.

“But I can’t go outside. It’s the middle of the day.” He says looking at Bin like he’s suddenly gone insane. “Also I think people would look at us kind of funny if they saw you rolling me around in a wheelbarrow.”

“I know that. But there’s a little dingy dock on the beach close to here. It’s also very near to where your pack will be meeting you. Come on…” Bin whines. “It’s be the perfect way to spend our last day.” Dongmin still looks a little unconvinced so Bin gets up onto his knees and holds his hand out to the merman, pinkie finger extended. Dongmin looks at it, confused.

“It’s a pinkie promise.” Bin explains. “I pinkie swear that I will be extra careful getting you to the beach so that no one sees you.” 

Dongmin cautiously wraps his pinkie around Bin’s and Bin holds his writs steady so that he can press there thumbs together, sealing the promise.

 

 

It’s a bit of a struggle to get Dongmin into the wheelbarrow by himself but he manages and at the height of mid day they are heading down the road to the beach. Bin takes a path that’s a little longer but much more private in order to make sure no one sees them. Dongmin’s tail is also covered in a couple towels as an extra precaution. 

It’s an oddly warm day for so late in the fall. Not warm enough that Bin want to get into the water at all but warm enough that he’s comfortable in a windbreaker, a t-shirt and a pair of jeans. 

They make it to the dingy dock and Bin helps Dongmin out of the wheelbarrow. The merman settles himself on the dock so his tail drapes into the water and Bin sits down cross legged beside him. 

“See? Isn’t it so much nicer out here?” Bin asks as Dongmin tilts his face upward, basking in the weak, watery sunlight like a late blooming sunflower trying to soak up as much heat as he can before winter comes.

“I suppose so. But as long as I get to sit with you I don’t think it really matters where we are.” Dongmin hums out. Bin hardly hears him though. Dongmin looks truly stunning in the sunlight. His skin and scales glint and glitter as the sunlight refracts against the water droplets covering his body, the pale yellow sunlight somehow making his lips look pinker and fuller than Bin has ever seen them. His hair, which so often appears black, show its true brownish amber colours as Dongmin turns to smile directly at Bin. He doesn’t even bother looking away when Dongmin catches him staring. Its far, far too late for that. 

“I can’t believe your leaving.” Bin says. It just slips out of his mouth, entirely unbidden and he watches as the smile drops off of Dongmin’s face.

“Let’s not talk about it, okay? Let’s just enjoy the time we have left.” Bin offers a small smile. When he’d found an injured boy on this very beach he hadn’t thought that he would grow so attached. That it would be so hard to say good bye. That he would fall in love. 

“Come on.” Dongmin says with a smile, nudging Bin out of his stupor. “Tell me about what your writing. You’ve written in that book everyday since I’ve know you and I still have no idea what you’re writing about.”

Bin looks over at where he had dropped his journal in order to lift Dongmin out of the wheelbarrow. It’s half covered in the towels he had used to cover Dongmin’s tail. He doesn’t need to read out of it or anything. He’s know his story backwards and forwards so he leaves it there in favour of leaning back to rest his weight on his arms.

“Okay.”

Bin starts telling his story cautiously, carefully watching Dongmin’s reactions. The merman is completely engaged from the first word. He watches Bin tell his story with wide expressive eyes, gasping cutely anytime something even remotely dramatic happens. It spurs Bin on and as he talks his gestures become wilder and wilder. He doesn’t even realize that he’s gotten considerably closer to Dongmin until he is nearing the end of his story.

They are sitting side by side, jean clad thigh pressed against violet scaled tail. Dongmin’s head is turned do that he can watch as Bin gesticulates his story out, toward the ocean. Bin’s story is coming to a close and he turns his head to face Dongmin. They’re really close. Really, really close. 

All the droplets of water that were previously on Dongmin’s skin have evaporated but somehow he still glows in the dimming sunlight. He’s got this little smile on his face that Bin can’t quite decipher.

“…and they can’t be together because the Prince must return to his home in the mountains.”

“Why didn’t the baker ask the Prince to stay? I think he would have if the baker had just asked.”

“Well, the baker knows that the Prince has duties to attend to. He can’t just stay by the sea with him forever.”

“But couldn’t the Prince’s brother take the throne. He’d probably be a better King anyways and there still so many things for the Prince to learn near the sea.”

“Well, the baker doesn’t even know the Prince has a brother so he would never ask the Prince to stay.”

“Why don’t you want your characters to be happy? Why can’t everything just work out?” Dongmin asks with an incredulous smile.

“Because that’s not how life works.” Bin responds. He watches Dongmin, whose looking at him with an expression on his face that Bin doesn’t quite understand. His smile is soft and he’s got a bit of a blush high on his cheekbones. The tips of his ears are also flushed red and his eyes never leave Bin’s face. 

“It could be.” Dongmin says. It’s barely more than a whisper and Bin watches as Dongmin’s powder blue eyes dart down to his lips and then back up to his eyes. His soft pink tongue flicks out to wet his lips and now Bin can’t look anywhere else. He just stares at Dongmin’s petal pink mouth and how his lips glisten in the sunlight now. They look soft. And warm.

“Can I…? I mean… Do you know…? Do merfolk kiss?” Bin stutters out. Dongmin lets out a frustrated sigh before darting forward to press his lips against Bin’s cheek. He pulls away a little. Just far enough so that he can look at Bin and make sure that he’s okay with this. Bin’s whole face is flushed bright red and his eyes are wide but he doesn’t pull away at all, naturally tilting his head a little causing there noses to brush.

“Yes, we do.”

“I think I’m falling in love with you.” Bin whispers, confession squeezing it’s way out of his vocal cords. He watches as Dongmin’s eyes are pushed into perfect crescent moons and although he can’t really see, he can feel the merman’s smile against his skin, right by the corner of his mouth.

“Me too.” Dongmin whispers back, before pushing forward and pressing his lips to Bin’s. Bin’s hand naturally comes up to cup the merman’s cheeks holding his face so they can kiss properly.

It is just as he though. Dongmin’s lips are soft and smooth and warm as they move against his own. He’s suddenly a little self conscious of how chapped his lips are but he forgets it easily enough when Dongmin nibbles on his bottom lip. Then his soft, wet tongue is smoothing over the little bites and prodding at the seam of his lips, asking for entrance. Bin obliges by parting his lips and returning the favour. Dongmin tastes faintly of sea salt and warmth and while Bin doesn’t have a ton of experience kissing people but he kind of thinks that Dongmin is ruining him right now. He doesn’t think he ever want to kiss anyone else because it’ll never be quite like this. 

Dongmin tangles his fingers in the front of Bin’s shirt tugging him closer, not wanting to separate their lips. Bin can’t physically get any closer when they’re sitting side by side so he pulls away from Dongmin who makes a soft noise of dispproval. He swings one leg over the upper part of Dongmin’s tail, straddling the merman and reseals their lips. This time Dongmin pulls away, leaning backward until he’s lying with his back against the wooden planks of the dingy dock. His hands are still tangled in the front of Bin’s t-shirt pulling the boy down till he’s hovering over the merman. They exchange soft pecks like that until Bin’s knees start to hurt. Dongmin notice the boy shifting uncomfortably, trying to alleviate some of the pressure on his knees. He flips them so that Bin is lying on his back and the merman is lying on top of him, chest to chest but with his tail resting on the dock beside Bin’s legs. They break away then, Bin very much out of breath, Dongmin smiling down at him beatifically, dark hair fluffy and mussed against his forehead. Bin lifts a hand to card his fingers through the merman’s hair in an attempt to smooth it down a little. Dongmin nuzzles his head against Bin’s hand and sighs contentedly before settling his chin on Bin’s collar bones. Bin has his arm wrapped around Dongmin’s slim waist, fingers brushing against the planes of his back. 

“So what now?” Bin asks once he has caught his breath. He feels Dongmin chuckle against his neck before biting down playfully. 

“Can’t you just enjoy this for a couple minutes before getting all anxious about the future?” Then his tongue darts out to lick over the place he just bit.

“I mean, you’re leaving in a couple hours so, I don’t know, it seems kind of important that we talk about this?” Bin says, trying his best not to get distracted by the feeling of Dongmin’s lips and tongue and teeth on his neck. It is proving to be very challenging.

Dongmin stops his ministrations and sighs into Bin’s neck. “You’re right.” Dongmin thinks hard for a moment, seemingly mulling something over. He lifts his head and asks,

“Do you trust me?”

“Of course.” Bin answers without a moments hesitation.

“Okay.” Dongmin says and he hold his hand out to Bin, pinkie finger extended, just like he’d learned earlier that day. “I pinkie promise you that today will not be the last time you see me.” Bin looks at Dongmin and see the conviction on his face and he knows that he has no reason to doubt the merman’s promise. He links his pinkie with Dongmin’s and presses their thumbs together. When their hands are clasped Dongmin scoots his body up to peck Bin on the lips. 

It’s then that Bin begins to notice that the sunlight is not glimmering off Dongmin’s body as strongly as it was earlier. The sky is growing darker and the air is slowly getting colder. 

“It’s almost sunset.” Bin breathes out against Dongmin’s lips. Dongmin groans, not wanting to move away from Bin and the warmth that he radiates. Bin suddenly remembers the little project that sits in his pocket.

“I have something to give to you.”

Dongmin perks his head up at that, cocking it to the side in curiosity. Bin wriggles his free hand into the front pocket of his jeans and pulls out a bracelet. It looked a lot like the one that Dongmin had given him but instead of purple and blue it was red and orange and gold with a little golden crescent moon charm hanging from the centre. Dongmin looks from the bracelet to Bin with wide eyes.

“…You made this?” He asks, voice full of wonder.

“Yeah. I know that it’s not as good as yours but since I had something from you I wanted you to have something from me.” 

Suddenly Bin is being smothered in a hug, Dongmin wrapping his arms around Bin as best he can while their lying down. Bin just uses the arm that he’s got around Dongmin’s waist to pull him in closer and hold him tight. Dongmin pulls back from the hug to kiss Bin full on the lips. It’s a little sloppy because of how hard both of them are smiling and Dongmin’s tail splashes happily in the water. 

“I love it. It’s perfect.” Dongmin says, eyes crescents, big smile displaying all of his perfect pearly white teeth. 

“You’re perfect.” Bin says, his heart is so unbelievably full of love, it’s driving him crazy. His whole body feels light, like he’s drifting through the atmosphere but somehow he’s still so warm and so content. 

He manages to convince Dongmin to get up off of him so that he can tie the bracelet around the merman’d wrist. He secures it tightly and looks up at Dongmin, who’s smile consumes his entire face. He kisses the merman and both cheeks and then the tip of his nose causing Dongmin to chuckle at first and then let out a little whine before pressing a short kiss to Bin’s lips. Bin giggles in return, smiling so wide that he feels like his face might break. He doesn’t care though. He feels giddy and bubbly and warm. The purple mountains that he had been thinking of so frequently no longer seem as distant. Those blue eyed song birds that he sees in his dreams are singing only for him. The smell of salt water is all around him and permeates every single cell of his being. He can even taste it on his tongue. 

“Dongmin!” An unfamiliar voice calls out, breaking Bin out from his giddy thoughts. He looks out toward the ocean, where the voice was coming from and a few feet away he sees the coppery hair and pale face and shoulders of a boy floating in the water. He swims closer and Bin can see a long emerald green tail propelling him forward, swishing back and for the beneath the waves.

“Sanha!” Dongmin calls out, slipping off the dock and into the water, swimming out to meet the other merman who had nearly reached the edge of the dock. The two merman twist around each other tightly before the copper haired merman, Sanha presumably, slings his long, thin arms around Dongmin’s shoulders, squeezing him into a tight hug.

And then he’s screeching.

“OH MY GOD WE ALL THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD AND I WAS SO SAD. SERIOUSLY I CRIED FOR, LIKE, A WEEK BUT THEN WE FOUND OUT YOU WEREN’T AND I WAS SO HAPPY!”

Dongmin was giggling wrappng his arms around the other merman. 

“Calm down Sanha. I was fine. I’m sorry that I worried you.”

“Don’t apologize! I’m just so happy that your okay!”

“Yeah, well it was all thanks to Binnie, with the help of some other people.” Dongmin says gesturing to where Bin is sitting cross legged on the dock. He gives a shy wave and Sanha beams at him.

“Thank you so much for taking care of him! We owe you so much.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Bin doesn’t really know what to say. It was life changing? An inspiration? Dongmin had become his muse so if anything the merman had helped him? Instead he just says,

“It was nice.” and he smiles at Dongmin, hopping to somehow express all the things he had wanted to say. 

Dongmin seems to understand because he smiles back the brightest smile he can muster. He disentangles himself from Sanha and clings onto the edge of the dock in front of Bin. 

“I promise that we will meet again. I can’t say for sure how long it’ll be but I swear I’ll come back. I won’t let us be like your story. You’re not a baker and I’m no prince so ask me to come back and I will.” Dongmin says with a solemnity and conviction that Bin has never seen. Then the reality slams into him like a brick to the face and he can feel his throat closing and his eyes starting to fill with tears.

“Please come back.” He chokes out weakly, holding his tears back as best he can. 

“Okay. I will. I promise.” Dongmin says, voice wavering a little eyes glistening with unshed tears. He reaches out and grabs Bin’s hand entwining their fingers. Dongmin pushes himself up so he can rest his elbows on the edge of the dock. Bin leans forward, hand that isn’t holding Dongmin’s reaching up to cup the merman’s face. They share one last sweet kiss before Dongmin lowers himself back into the water. He swims back towards Sanha, who is smiling at Dongmin sympathetically. He turns, giving Bin a wave and a watery smile before the two of them disappear under the waves. 

Bin watches the undulating water, the mermen’s glimmering tails getting harder and harder to see as the sink deeper into the ocean. Everything is quiet. The waves are gentle and the sky is softening into the pale blue of dusk. There is a chill creeping into the air. 

When Bin can no longer see even the faintest glimmer of violet or emerald in the ocean he turns his gaze towards the mouth of the bay where he’s sure Dongmin’s pack is waiting. He’s not sure when he’ll see Dongmin again but he truly trust with all of his heart that the merman will return. 

He will come back.

Just as Bin decides to get up from the dock and go home, legs stiff and back aching from sitting on the uncomfortable wooden planks there is a flash of colour in the distance. On closer inspection bin realizes that It’s Dongmin’s pack jumping out of the water. Flashes of scales catch the remaining light. The colours glisten in beautiful rainbows as they jump and dive in and out of the water. The last merman that leaps out of the water is Dongmin, he’s absolutely certain. His tail is so dark it looks black but those few remaining rays of evening light catch the edges of his scales and Bin can see that rich, beautiful purple. It’s a good bye, for now. A so long, for the moments. Bin smiles and a laugh forces it’s way out of his throat. He raises his hand in a wave, unsure if Dongmin will even be able to see it. Finally, the tears he’s been holding in for so long slip down his cheeks that are bunched into a smile and although his laughter turns to little hiccupy gasps, the smile never leaves his face. 

Dongmin will come back and Bin will wait for him until he does.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end!!!! But do not fret, kiddos. I have a fluffy christmas binu thing in the works right now so look forward to that! Anyway, thank you so much for all of the wonderful support on this fic! I really appreciate all of the wonderful comments that y'all have been leaving. Its the reason that I love to write. Sorry I haven't been able to respond to them but i should be getting back to everyone over the next couple days <3 Thank you all so much and I hope you look forward to the next fic!

Month pass and autumn fades into winter with quiet dignity. Bin sits out on the dingy dock everyday, just writing, until it gets far to cold and even then he takes time to stroll along the beach, winter wind biting his cheeks red. The sea turns grey and the sand loses colour until Bin’s bright blue coat is the only spot of colour all the way along the dreary horizon. 

After about a month of writing and waiting Bin finishes the first draft of his book. He had been afraid that with Dongmin gone he would be unable to find his inspiration. Turns out all he needed to do was close his eyes and breathe in the salty air. He just needed to think of warmth and sweet melodies and touring purple mountains that loom over him in a way that’s oddly comforting. 

One day in mid November Rocky asks him,

“Do you really think he’ll come back?”

“Of course.” Bin answers, simply.

“He’s been gone for more than a month. How can you be so sure?”

“He promised.”

Rocky doesn’t question him about it again. 

At the end of November Bin hands in the first draft of his novel to Myungjun. It’s not perfect, but the story is all there. It’s like holding an unopened oyster. It’s not quite ready yet but you know that when it is, you’ll open it up to find the most beautiful pearl resting inside. And even once you have the pearl you’ll still need to rinse the whole thing off and make sure it’s clean. The first draft is done, and its good, but there is still a lot more work to be done. 

Bin elects to get a job. He applies to be a barista at this little seaside cafe not too far from his house and somehow, even though he has no experience, he gets the job. It’s nice and his coworkers are friendly. Bin learns that by being around people from different walks of life he learns a lot about the way people describe things and he translates this new knowledge into the beginning of the second draft of his book. 

 

 

It’s mid December and Bin has been at work all day. It’s been a particularly challenging day. Customers were especially demanding and his manager had been on edge all day. Then they had a health inspector come in for the routine yearly inspection. They had passed with flying colour but it was an additional layer of stress icing on top of his bad mood cake. He’s stressed and tired and sore and he really just wants to go home but they don’t have any food so he has to stop at the grocery store first. 

He trudges home, arms piled with paper bags filled to the brim with groceries. The wind is particularly cold today and Bin can feel the snow that’s building up in the clouds, just waiting for the right moment to fall. He shifts his bags into one hand so that he can pull his keys out of his pocket. He sticks them in the lock and turns only to find that the door is already unlocked. Curse Rocky and his forgetting to lock the door before he leaves for dance. 

He pushes the door open and sets his groceries down before shrugging off his coat. He scoops up the paper bags and heads to the kitchen to put everything away. He’s just a couple steps from the kitchen when he hears some kind of shuffling inside. Could someone have broken in? What if it wasn’t Rocky who left the door open but they were being robbed! Bin looks around frantically for a weapon, only finding this weird twisty vase that had been a gift from one of his great aunts. Still, its better than nothing. He grabs it and lifts it above his head, sneaking closer and closer toward the kitchen.

Then he leaps into the kitchen, vase hoisted above his head, ready to smash it over the burglars head if need be. He freezes when he isn’t confronted by someone dressed in black, complete with a balaclava, pilfering his stuff. Instead its wide powder blue eyes framed by thick black lashes. It’s soft looking, petal pink lips that he knows taste like sea salt. It’s flawless, pale skin and hair that looks black except in the sunlight when it shows its true earthy brown colour. It’s delicate hands with long, slender fingers raised in shock and surrender. Most importantly it’s Dongmin standing in the middle of his kitchen. 

“The door was open and it was getting dark outside so I just thought…”

Bin doesn’t even realize that the vase is falling from his hands and he doesn’t care at all. He’s already all the way across the kitchen and back in Dongmin’s arms before the vase is smashing on the ground. Dongmin still smells the same, like soft warm sand and salt water. Bin buries his face into Dongmin’s neck, relishing in the new warmth radiating of his skin and opposes to the slick coolness of his skin before. Bin can safley say that it’s a favourable change. Dongmin’s fingers twist into the back of Bin’s shirt pulling him impossibly closer. He pushes his nose into Bin’s hair, nuzzling and taking in the scent that he’d missed so dearly over these past months. 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Dongmin mutters over and over again into Bin’s hair leaving a trail soft apologetic kisses between each repetition of the phrase. 

“What on earth are you sorry for?” Bin asks though he’s not sure if Dongmin heard him clearly with his face buried so snugly in the ex merman’s neck.

“For taking so long. I didn’t expect it to be such a long process.” He says pulling slightly away from Bin who just clings on tighter. 

“You’re here, now. That’s all that matters.” Bin feels Dongmin’s fingers on his cheek, tilting his head up slightly. 

“Come on. Look at me. I’ve missed your face.” Bin lifts his gaze to look Dongmin in the eyes and it’s almost to much for him. He feels his eyes begin to water and he sniffles to keep himself from crying. Two months may not seem like that long but when you love someone as much as Bin loves Dongmin it feels like an eternity. 

“God, I missed you so much.” Dongmin croaks out, the reunion getting the better of him as well. He pulls Bin back into his arms again and they say like that for who knows how long. The stand wrapped up in one another, breathing in each others scents and basking in each others warmth. It’s only with Dongmin nosing gently against the skin above Bin’s ear that he realizes something.

“Wait. Are you taller than me?” He asks and he can feel Dongmin smiling against his ear, huffing out a soft breathy laugh. 

Bin pulls sharply away from the embrace to glare at Dongmin.

“You are taller than me, aren’t you!”

“Yes, I suppose I am.” Dongmin says with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes and a shit eating grin plastered across his face.

“But that’s not fair…” Bin whines. “You didn’t even have to grown them yourself!” Bin is pouting full force. “What about all the energy I had to put in to grow up so that I would be this height and then you just get gifted legs that are longer than mine? It’s totally not fair…”

Dongmin giggles at Bin’s petulance and takes the pouting boys hand, lifting it to his lips and leaving a gentle peck across his knuckles. Then he steps closer to Bin and kisses him softly on the cheek. All of the fight melts right out of the other boy and he folds into Dongmin like putty. Dongmin presses a kiss to his temple and the tip of his ear before shifting down to kiss across his cheek bone and under his eye and then one soft peck against the tip of his nose. 

“You’re the literal worst.” Bin mumbles against Dongmin’s lips as he hovers just out of reach. Now it’s Dongmin’s turn to pout, bottom lip jutting outward, so close to brushing against Bin’s. Bin has finally had enough and he presses their lips together. It’s starts chaste, just a simple press of lips but then Bin licks at the seam of Dongmin’s lips causing the ex merman to gasp a little. Bin doesn’t miss his opportunity and he presses his tongue inside Dongmin’s warm wet mouth. He still tastes like sea salt. 

Bin shudders when Dongmin’s tongue presses back against his and his hands slide down Dongimin’s sides to grip his waist. It’s odd not to feel cold wet skin and scales but instead the thick padding of denim around his slender hips. The pants he’s wearing are slightly too big and they hand low and loose on his hips. They keep kissing and Bin’s fingers dig tighter into the loose jeans until something else suddenly dawns on him. 

“Are these my pants?” He pulls back and asks. Dongmin looks a little sheepish.

“Well, Poseidon doesn’t exactly think things through when he gives you legs.”

“So they are my pants. And my sweater too.” Bin says. Then he pauses and replays Donmin’s sentence over in his head. 

“Wait, wait. You met Poseidon? Mythical God of the sea? Shit that you said was only a story?”

Dongmin shrugs. 

“I guess it’s not so much of a myth as I thought.”

“So he’s the one who gave you legs?” Bin asks. Dongmin pulls a little bit a way from him and hops up on the counter, prepared to recount what happened to him over the past two months.

“Well, I guess so. I don’t actually really know. When I swam back to the pack with Sanha we were migrating to warmer waters with the whales for the winter. They were all so happy to see me again that I had a hard time telling them that I wanted to leave for good. I found myself swimming to shore and hiding amongst the rocks just to watch the people. They reminded me how much there is about humans that I son’t understand. They all reminded me of you.

Eventually, our alpha figured out something was wrong and she followed me. She asked me about it and I told her the whole story of everything that happened here. She said that this wasn’t the first time that a merman or merman had fallen in love with a human. She warned me of the complications and that if I were to give up my legs, there was no going back. She wanted to make sure that I wasn’t just doing it for you, I guess. She wanted to know that, even if this thing between us fell through, I’d be able to find something in the human world that would make me happy. She said that two many times had she seen menfolk trade in their legs only to be betrayed by there lovers.”

“But, I wouldn’t ever do that—“

“And that’s exactly what I told her.” Dongmin said with a smile, taking Bin’s hand in order to calm him. 

“She said that I should come and speak to her when I had a concrete plan of what I wanted for my future amongst the humans. I spent weeks thinking about everything. I wanted to be back by your side but beyond that I didn’t have any sort of plan. So I thought and I planned until I had a concrete idea of what I wanted to do. I fit didn’t work out that would be okay but at least I had some kind of plan for the future that stretched beyond being with you. 

So I told our alpha my plan and then I told my parents. The alpha would take me to the nearest temple to I could meditate. Sanha demanded that he be allowed to come along. He said that he’d lost me once so he would be there to make sure that I was safe this time. 

The whole trip took about three days of swimming from dawn to dusk but eventually we got there. The alpha told me that I would have to go inside and meditate by my self. They weren’t allowed to come any further with me and she couldn’t guarantee how long it would take. For some merfolk it took a couple hours and for others it took weeks or sometimes even months. 

 

So I went inside and I sat in the middle of the inner sanctum and I meditated. I ate one meal in the morning for three weeks, spending the rest of the day in a meditative state in the temple. Then, on the final day of the third week it happened. I was meditating like usual when this strange force came over me. It suddenly felt like I was no longer inside my body and there was some unfamiliar voice speaking to me and saying that it would judge my heart. If I was found to be pure of heart and filled only with good intentions the my wishes would be deemed worthy of Poseidon’s magic.”

“Obviously they deemed you worthy?”

“I guess so? I mean here I am with legs and everything. When I woke up in the inner sanctum there was some kind of vile with some kind of shimmering violet liquid inside. It was almost black, the same colour as my tail. The voice that spoke to me when i was meditating told me to drink it when I was near to shore cause if I drowned there was nothing they could do to save me. 

So then Sanha and the alpha escorted me back to the bay and we said our goodbyes. Sanha promised that he would come visit with my parents next spring when the pack migrates back.”

“So then you took the potion and got legs? Did it hurt?” Bin asks. 

“Not really? First I pulled out one of my scales so that i’d always remember exactly what my tail looked like. I think I’m gonna make it into a necklace. But the actual transformation part kind of tingled? And my legs didn’t quite work right for a while. It was like when you cut off the circulation to one of your limbs and it feels all fuzzy and weird afterward. It was a lot harder to figure out how to get from the beach to your house without any clothes.” Dongmin laughs out. 

“I’m… actually kind of sad I missed that.” Bin says, picturing a very naked Dongmin streaking across the beach towards his house. Dongmin punches him in the shoulder with a laugh.

“Don’t be gross. I found someones abandoned towel on the beach and used that to get up here. Then nobody was home and I was kinda scared that you had moved or something.”

“I would never do that. I was waiting for you to come back.”

“I mean, I know that. But it took so damn long you can’t blame me for being a little nervous.”

“And how did you know we hadn’t moved?”

“You left your journal on the table beside your bed. I’d recognize it anywhere.” Bin smiles up at Dongmin and he pushes his way between the ex merman’s parted knees. He brushes his fingers through the soft, almost black locks. He leans up to kiss Dongmin on the cheek and then on the nose. It’s his turn to tease and Dongmin who lets a soft whine escape his parted lips. Bin’s teasing is much less effective as he is completely unable to deny Dongmin anything he wants when he’s looking at him like that. So he kisses him gently and he feels Dongmin smiling into it. 

Bin pulls away when the need for air became too great and he takes in Dongmin’s delightfully ruffles appearance. 

“So what now?” He asks. 

“We keep kissing until Rocky gets home and freaks out at us for defiling the kitchen?” Dongmin answers with an innocent tilt of his head. Bin blushes. 

“As wonderful as that sounds, you know that’s not what I meant.” Bin says entwining his fingers with Dongmin’s. Dongmin sighs and responds,

“I guess I find some place to live. And I get a job. But if you mean for the farther future? I want to go to school. I know that there is a lot of stuff that I need to learn, not to mention all the governmental stuff that I have to do but I like learning. And all I want to do right now is spend time with you and learn new things. And learn new things about you.” Dongmin finishes with a smile.

“I love you. And I’ll help you figure everything out. You should stay here while all of that is being figured out and I’ll call Myungjun’s mom in the morning and ask her how she did everything.”

“I love you too.” Dongmin says back. He still reminds Bin of the sea and big purple mountains that protect him and his heart. He still imagines songbirds with blue eyes and sweet music. He looks at Dongmin sitting on his kitchen counter just like he was always meant to be there and he knows that everything is gonna be alright.

**Author's Note:**

> Also if you would like you can come scream with me on www.thegarbagecan.tumblr.com


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